An Assassin's Game
by MiyazakiFan18
Summary: What if Kazuto's grandfather taught him to work in a team and be good with swords? What if Kazuto gained [Dual Blades] during the beta, along with another [Unique Skill]? Enter Kirito the [Assassin]. Kirito x Harem, and a Kirito more focused on teamwork instead of being a solo player. Hiatus, being re-written.
1. The Assassin is Born

**~000~**

 _Chapter One: The Assassin is Born_

 **~000~**

"Block. Counterattack. Recover. Repeat," Suguha blew some black bangs out of her eyes when she plopped down on the mat. "Kazuto-nii-chan, are these the words of this dojo?"

A sigh reached her ears. "You're impersonating Jii-chan again." groaned Kazuto who was actually practicing against his dummy unlike her.

"No. _This_ is an impersonation of Jii-chan." Suguha ruffled her own bangs and had a comically deeper voice. "Your stance needs more work Kazuto. Your striking needs more work, your everything needs more work."

Kazuto effortlessly struck the dummy so quickly with his practicing stick that there was not one error in his form. "Oh yeah. Needs loads of work." said the older brother.

Suguha stood up and stretched. "Yeah no. Years is years Onii-chan. Anyway…I could use a break."

"Pick up your shinai and practice lazy pants!" Kazuto said.

"I'm good. Don't you have that beta thing you said you were going to do?"

"I've got time."

Chuckling, Suguha walked outside and muttered. "Sure sure."

Sitting on the steps, the Kirigaya siblings drank water together with words of relief from Kazuto. "I'm so glad that all those years of training with Jii-chan will finally have real-world appliance."

"How so?" asked Suguha.

"How else?" Kazuto put his plastic water bottle down. "Sword Art Online's beta is later this afternoon. Heard you can apply some real-world sword skills if you're skilled enough. I'll be in my room." He walked away from the dojo's steps.

"Wait, Kazuto! Can I get my own and play with you when it comes out?"

Kazuto huffed a small amount of air out of his nose in a snicker. "That's not for three months Sugu, but sure why not?"

"Perfect!" laughed Suguha. "But wait, what're the most important things in a fight?"

"Again with the Jii-chan impersonations?" Eyes were rolled. "Friends, and then your sword."

"You're ready."

Her older brother chuckled. "I was always ready."

 **~000~**

Scrolling through the SAO forums full of excited about to be Beta testers, Kazuto focused on a particular part of the screen muttering under his breath. "Assassin's Creed Black Flag Easter egg?"

After clicking on the link provided in the comment, a full page on a news website was written on this particular item he was interested in.

 **As a tribute to his favorite XBOX 360 game, Akihiko Kayaba has included a special Easter Egg in his new title Sword Art Online, known as The Cloak of Kenway. The item is said to have included the blades and skills of Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed Four: Black Flag, and also a secret move set and sword skills not included with other regular weapons.**

 **Mr. Kayaba himself was quoted as saying: "I really enjoyed playing Black Flag in my late teens. It's a game that has unfortunately been lost to the test of time, but I really hope to endow a new generation with the same joy I felt. Edward Kenway is my favorite video game character I've played as, and I really envy the player who's lucky enough to stumble across it. Having tested it myself, I can say without a doubt that it lacks nothing in terms of power and fun in use."**

"Holy shit that sounds awesome." Kazuto laughed at his desk chair.

He spent a good few hours messing around on the internet like any good teenager would before focusing on the time in the bottom right corner of his screen. "Party time." murmured an excited Kazuto.

A series of clicks and a bit of setup later and Kazuto laid on his bed focused on the tiny clock in the Nerve Gear helmet's glass visor.

' _13:58…13:59…14:00!'_ Kazuto's voiceless words rang in his skull before he spoke with a voice full of vigor and excitement, ready to hunt down that Easter egg.

"Link start!"

With a light sound, the helmet turned on after Kazuto closed his eyes. Kazuto's vision changed from black to white and a stream of color rushed into his mind. Then followed the system's registration of connecting Kazuto's senses to the Nerve Gear helmet.

 **|Welcome to Sword Art Online!|** Kazuto read. **|Choose what language you'd like to play the game in:|**

Kazuto quickly chose **|Japanese|**.

 **|Username: Kirito. Password: *********|**

 **|Login Successful! Please create your Beta Avatar!|**

Kazuto decided to make his avatar look a little different from him, with darker hair and older features. The weapon he chose was the one that seemed most obvious to him, the [Starter's Sword].

 **|Are you sure this is the Avatar you'd like to use? Yes/No|**

He chose **|Yes|** and more text appeared.

 **|Enjoy your Beta experience and be sure to give your rating on our website when finished!|**

The screen changed and Kazuto felt something strange under his feet. First, he wasn't barefoot like he was on his bed, he was wearing boots and he could actually feel them. And the virtual ground…damn, this was new to him.

More importantly, he was no longer his old teenage self, wearing the face of a young man a few years older than him, Kazuto became Kirito. He wore leather armor that only covered tiny amounts of his body instead of the workout clothes he had on in the real world.

Walking around the starting plaza, he saw other Beta testers being logged in around him, appearing in the typical blue glows.

' _The developers weren't kidding…these graphics are just astounding…'_ Kirito thought to himself.

He started to sprint, running past NPC vendors and players at their stands buying food. Kirito's [Starter's Sword] jingled at his belt as he ran, and eventually, he ran right out of the [Town of Beginnings] and into the fields of grass surrounding it.

A [Frenzy Boar] pawed at the grass and huffed air out quickly through its pink snout.

Kirito gasped. _'That looks exactly like a real pig!'_

The [Frenzy Boar] turned to him and its eyes seemed to glow redder. When it charged, instinct took over, and Kirito drew his [Starter's Sword] without hesitation. When Kirito swung, the blade glowed blue in a [Horizontal] attack and he had executed the strike so well that the [Frenzy Boar] fizzed into shards when Kirito had finished running past it.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 26|**

 **|Col- 17|**

 **|Items- 1|**

"The hell?" Kirito tightened his grasp on his sword's grip, staring into its reflection curiously.

' _I struck just how Jii-chan taught me, but why the hell did my sword glow blue?... Huh, I guess [Sword Skills] are matched up exactly to real world strikes perhaps? Or are at least similar?'_

Kirito watched as another [Frenzy Boar] spawned in the same blue glow players did only a few steps away from where he was standing in the grass. It attacked again and unsurprised-ly to Kirito, the result was the same. The [Result] page popped up again and Kirito growled when he gripped his sword. "I'm loving this game."

Killing pigs he'd already been killing for ten minutes got as tedious as homework so Kirito decided to walk off in a new direction up and down the grassy hills of Aincrad.

Hearing shouts and screams erupt from a small cave designed into a particularly high hill, Kirito ran towards it and saw players running out of it yelling.

"What happened?" Kirito asked a player who ran past him.

"Freaking mini-boss cave troll is strong as hell! Just run away man!" advised the fleeing player.

Kirito spied a female player with a hood over her head standing outside the cave with a piece of uncooked [Boar Meat] in hand and a knife in the other. She was giggling to herself watching the men stream out of the cave in fear.

"I'm sorry to ask but what're you doing?" wondered Kirito.

The auburn-haired beta tester turned to him. "Seeing how many idiots try to take on this mini-boss." She saw a player's arm fly out of the cave before fizzling into pixels when it hit the ground. "Another one bites the dust." murmured the girl as she made another hash mark on her [Boar Meat] with her [Knife].

Kirito was further intrigued. "I have to know this but... Who are you?"

"Argo. Who might you be?"

"Kirito," He noticed how much Argo was smiling beneath her hood. "You enjoying the beta so far?"

Giggling, Argo saw another player get thrown out of the cave before dying when hitting the grass of the hill. "Loving it." She saw the look on Kirito's face. "Oh. Please don't tell me you're going in there."

"I in fact am. Do you want to come with me?" offered Kirito.

Argo snorted. "Uh...no thanks, I'm good."

Kirito drew his sword off his back. "Suit yourself." He muttered and rushed inwards. He was stopped by a notification before though.

 **[Would you like to start the quest |Cave of Wonders|? Yes/No]**

|Yes| was hit by Kirito without a shred of fear.

Stalactites hung off the cave's ceiling as player surrounded a gigantic cave troll holding a club the size of most males around him. He roared and smashed the ground where Kirito was standing before he rolled away.

The troll was attacked when it failed to strike Kirito and a very unlucky player stuck his [Starter's Spear] into the blue skin of the cave troll's calf. The blue monster was apparently so strong that a direct strike to it equated to a poke and it turned around and picked up the player with his giant hands.

Smacking the player upwards against the cave's stalactites, the troll defeated the player easily.

A ranged player failed to stick an [Arrow] into the troll's eye and instead, the troll raised his blue arm holding his [Club] and took it right in the forearm. Right after that, the troll pancaked the archer with his [Club] roaring so strongly the cave shook.

Dozens of players kept attacking or avoiding attacks just to be defeated anyway as the troll appeared unbeatable, only Kirito managed to avoid the dreadfully lethal [Club]. Kirito was having trouble finding an opening to attack the troll but the moment came when the troll decided to swing his [Club] downwards at him. Ground shaking behind him, Kirito sprinted forward and rolled at just the right time to avoid the attack.

Successfully having avoided the troll's [Club], Kirito found himself between the troll's legs with the distance between them closed. Before anyone in the room could react, Kirito drove his [Starter's Sword] upwards and gained a [Critical Strike] in the troll's…private area.

It's [Strength] and [Vitality] simply were not high enough when it came to a strike so well timed, placed and executed. So the troll shrieked and exploded into the same dust every boss and mini-boss did.

The room took a few moments to react to what just unfolded as it happened very quickly, before cheering loudly for Kirito who was somewhat shocked by the whole ordeal. As players surrounded him and talked to him, Kirito saw the notifications in front of him.

 **[You got the last attacking bonus!]**

 **[You have leveled up! Level 1-Level 4]**

 **[Bonus items: |Cloak of Kenway |, |Swords of Kenway|, |Hidden Blades|.]**

Kirito's black eyes had never grown wider. _'No fucking way…I get how hard the mini-boss was but…damn.'_

He knew that no one could know that this cave was only a short distance from the very start of the game and that it offered a very powerful item, so Kirito took no time in shutting away the notifications as the players cheered for him.

Shortly after, Kirito walked back into the [Town of Beginnings] and rented a room in an inn to equip these items where no one could see him with it.

 **[New |Unique Skills| acquired! |Dual Blades| and |Assassin's Skills| have been added to your skillset!]**

Equipped with his new [Assassin's Gear], Kirito took the pleasure of viewing these items and their stats.

 **[Cloak of Kenway - +5 Defense +6 Agility (Assassin's Stat; Sneak +7) Item Description: A simple black cloak and hood also come with leather boots, the very same outfit Edward Kenway wore in Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag.]**

 **[Swords of Kenway – Long Sword(s)/One Hand. Range: Short; Type: Slash/Stab. Attack: 350 (x2) . Durability: 1500. Weight: 130. Strength: +28. Agility: +29. Item Description: These simple pirate cutlasses are rather light and are effective in various forms of combat.]**

 **[Hidden Blades –Knives. Range: Short; Type: Slash/Stab. Attack: 120 (x2). Durability: 2000. Weight: 15. Strength: +17. Agility: +23.]**

Kirito saw himself in the mirror in the inn's room. The [Hidden Blades] were simply knives beneath his black sleeves affixed to simple leather bracers on his wrists. He moved his hand backward and extended his wrist forward and the blade jutted out.

He had two cutlasses at his sides and his hood was begging to be placed over his head. Slowly, Kirito raised his hood and unsheathed both of his hidden blades.

"Ohoho yes…" moaned Kirito seeing how nice he looked.

Opening his menu, Kirito read up on these two new [Unique Skills] he got.

 **[Dual Blades –Allows the user to wield two swords simultaneously and use sword skills unique to this ability. 1.8x to Attack Speed Bonus, 1.5x to Weapon Defense Bonus, 1.2x to Cooldown Time Bonus]**

 **[Assassin's Skills- Multiple different abilities ranging from being able to have unique [Hidden Blades Skills] to [Kenway's Mobility]. 1.2x to Attack Speed Bonus.]**

Kirito kicked the windows to the inn open the second he read all this.

Sprinting across rooftops, Kirito built up speed to launch straight off a building onto another. After landing on it, he received a notification.

 **[You've developed your skill at two abilities, parkour and running, and your stats have improved as well as a result! Kenway's Mobility: 12/120. Agility: 53/120]**

Kirito kept running across rooftops as the day progressed until he reached the edge of the town and jumped off a rooftop. A shadow was marked against Aincrad's bright sun and a proud voice echoed across the first floor. "This is the greatest day of my entire life!"

 **~000~**

"So how'd the first day of the beta go?" Suguha saw Kazuto approach her on the steps of the Kirigaya dojo.

Kazuto laughed. "So…so very well." He sat down next to his younger sibling. "I decided to take a break for today and go back to it tomorrow. I don't feel confident enough to solo the first boss room so I'll just wait for a few other people to level up first and do it with them. And Sugu…you have no idea how happy I am."

"Why?" She let Kazuto reach out and tuck a bit of her hair behind her ear that was bothering him.

"I found…these super cool items and I can do all this parkour and special moves…God, I can't wait until tomorrow so I can try them out more."

"Meet anyone interesting?" asked Suguha.

Kazuto leaned back on one of the wooden beams holding up the awning of the Kirigaya dojo. "A girl named Argo…but I'm sure I'll meet some new people tomorrow. Plus, I got to make a good squad to take on the first boss room."

"Do you think I'll like the game?"

"Hell yeah. Except for having to hide the fact that I am...well me when I have the Assassin's gear, I'm loving every second of it."

Suguha sniffed. "Why?"

Kazuto answered promptly. "Because they'll see my face, know I was the one who beat the quest with the troll in it and know where to get the gear when the game starts for real three months from now. It's just better if I wear my hood."

Suguha yawned before leaning over on Kazuto on the steps of their dojo. "I'm looking forward to November when the game comes out so we can play it together."

He didn't really mind that they were sort of cuddling. "Yeah, I can't wait to show you this awesome Assassin's outfit I got. Plus the moves, blades, it's so damn awesome."

Suguha frowned as she closed her eyes on her Onii-chan's chest. "Hey, Kazuto?"

"Yeah?" acknowledged Kazuto.

"I miss Jii-chan."

"So do I Sugu, so do I." mumbled Kazuto as he glanced at the dojo he trained him in. He wrapped his arms around her and eventually they fell asleep together as crickets sang in the pond near the dojo.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Will the next chapter start on the first day of the actual game? Nah, I think I'll write Kirito's experience with his new Assassin's gear up to the tenth floor and then move on to the game's launch and set the base for the Harem too.**

 **Harem list? Sure here:**

 **Kirito's Harem (8): Sachi, Leafa, Yuuki, Lisbeth, Argo, Asuna, Silica and Sinon.**

 **The focus of the Harem will not be in that order in terms of anything, the order was random. I could've added others, but the problem is that it just becomes way too unfocused if there are too many girls.**

 **I initially considered giving Kirito Gaming Powers, but seeing as this is Sword Art Online, that would be painfully redundant. The only clever way around this would be something like SAO: The Eroge, which is awesome as a little side note, where he's only given the powers of a romance game.**

 **And SaintInfernalNeos, what happened to the Eroge story? I love that thing!**

 **So how did I get the idea for this? Well, first, I love Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag along with the series in general and this seemed like a good way to show that love. Also, I remember very vividly that in an episode of the anime that Kirito explicitly tells Silica that his grandfather was abusive towards Suguha and that led to his quitting of Kendo.**

 **The best way to explain Kirito as a teamwork focused and blade savvy person would be if his grandfather reinforced that from a young age, thus this idea was born.**

 **How'd I come across SAO? Well back in April of this year, I was looking around Netflix needing something to watch, and then I saw the first two seasons of it there. I also really enjoyed** **the Mother's Rosario arc and had to include Yuuki here because if it wasn't for Suguha she'd be best girl.**

 **Not to mention that I felt really bad for Suguha after Kazuto basically rejected her in the second season which I thought was really unfair to her.**

 **And me being into Gamer stories now, I got hooked easily with the concept of being stuck in a game and also I liked the anime a lot too anyway. Oh yeah if you're familiar with my other work, lemons will be another separate story when and if I get around to them.**

 **So see y'all next time! Also, I should probably make a writing schedule honestly…**


	2. Leveling Up

**~000~**

 _Chapter Two: Leveling Up_

 **~000~**

Yuuki watched intently from behind a tree, seeing a hooded and dark-haired assassin test out a new [Assassination] skill against a large beast. Kirito's level of focus and skill when fighting it was nothing short of astonishing to her, his [Hidden Blades] flashing blue in the dark forest while in battle.

It was the second day of the beta and Kirito was having loads of fun with his new Assassin's gear, choosing only the strongest of enemies to accustom himself better with the other skills it offered. The [Forest Bear] he was fighting was twice Kirito's height, with razor sharp claws and teeth, baring its fangs and standing up on its two paws, the NPC went straight for the kill by slashing at the boy's face, but Kirito practiced his counter.

The hidden blade attached to his left wrist stopped the Bear's claw by stabbing its wrist, and meanwhile, his right blade attacked, jabbing right into the monster's chest. Not sparing a single second, Kirito drove his [Hidden Blade] out of its chest and up into the Bear's chin after blocking its attack.

After having played enough of the game, Kirito recognized that striking certain areas of NPCs hitboxes, such as their knees, head, groin, or throat would result in a [Critical Strike] which essentially penetrated their [Defense] stat and thusly boost his damage output substantially. He saw the results screen for killing the NPC shortly afterward.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 78|**

 **|Col- 102|**

 **|Items- 2|**

Another notification popped up after Kirito closed the results of slaying the bear monster.

 **[You have improved your |Hidden Blades| skill with |Level 1 Assassination- Counter|! Hidden Blades: 17/120]**

"Why that was impressive." Yuuki came out from behind her tree and waved. "Took me forever to kill those bears."

Kirito looked up from his menu. "Sorry, who are you?"

"Yuuki." She extended her hand to the assassin. "And you are?"

"Kirito." As he shook it, he studied Yuuki's features. She was pretty and looked around his avatar's age, with long light green hair, Yuuki was equipped with a simple starter's sword, and Kirito was sure that he had no idea what her actual age could be as he saw all this.

"Are you enjoying the beta then Kirito?" chortled Yuuki.

A nod from Kirito followed this. "A lot actually. And you?"

"I like it a lot too. Want to join my party? I've been looking for someone strong to be the first person in it." Yuuki opened her menu with a sprinkling sound effect.

After accepting, Kirito walked out of the Floor One forest with Yuuki to sit on a hill and talk with her. "So what're your interests in the real world?"

"I'm big on sports. Basketball's my favorite." Yuuki said. "And yours?"

"Video games, computers, and kendo. My sister and I maintain our grandfather's dojo out of respect for him," responded Kirito coolly, who then leaned back on the smooth grass with his head on his hands.

The swordswoman saw what he was wearing. "Wow, you found the Assassin's gear! I read about that on a forum post and wanted to find it as soon as possible the second I did." mentioned Yuuki promptly.

He closed his eyes, "Same. And yeah, it's really fun. Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure?..." Yuuki nodded slowly.

"Keep the fact that I got it a secret all right? People will know the Cave of Wonders mini-boss gives it as a reward if they know I got it."

Yuuki understood. "Of course."

"Thanks, it's a lot of fun." Kirito rubbed his eye. "Powerful too. Lets me level up quicker, gives me better stats…Glad I put on my Nerve gear this morning, I slept on my dojo's steps, my back was aching."

"So has kendo helped you in this game so far?" wondered Yuuki after hearing this.

"A lot. My Jii-chan knew a lot about swordplay and made my sister and I practice all the time against each other. Other than that he was a pretty nice guy." Kirito mumbled.

A player panted after sprinting up to the two of them. "Okay…okay…okay…" He wouldn't stop panting.

"What is it?" Yuuki looked at him.

"We…we…we…whooof!" He leaned over on his knees.

Yuuki laughed. "You need to work on your Stamina stat man."

"We…we found the boss room!" The man cheered after he recovered.

 **~000~**

The rest of August, or the rest of the beta, progressed like clockwork for Kirito and Yuuki. They fought together and along the way leveled up and gained newer and newer sword skills. Especially Kirito who seemed to be running past notification screens telling him he improved his [Assassinations] along with other unique skills.

Yuuki flew around a hallway corner slashing, knocking away skeleton warriors on the third floor, Kirito, who was running quickly behind her, made fists and pushed his wrists forwards, activating a [Hidden Blade] skill. Apparently, they worked in tandem with assassination move sets so he was able to slay monsters better.

He jumped off the wall of the castle's hallway and over a skeleton's saber slash, landing right on the monster. Kirito knifed the skeleton's temple with the tip of the small blade attached to his wrist, slamming the NPC right into the stone floor and defeating it. Now on the ground, two others attacked either side of him but Kirito countered with his hidden blades well, pushing the skeleton's swords away and stabbing them each in their skulls at the same time.

"Whoa, damn Kirito!" exclaimed a surprised Yuuki. "You've really been practicing that double counter haven't you?"

"You're not too bad yourself." Kirito swiped away the all too familiar results notifications and progressed in his smashing of the beta with help from Yuuki.

He not only enjoyed using his Hidden Blades but his cutlasses as well, which he typically used with the strongest of enemies, slashing and hacking through the game and its various monsters, Kirito increased his skill with his blades as well as gaining new sword skills alongside Yuuki.

Every day Kazuto daydreamed at his school of being back in his bedroom with his Nerve Gear back on, testing the beta further and killing monsters with Yuuki at his side. In his notebook at school, he scribbled ideas for what further hidden blade skills and assassinations could be further down the skill tree his menu showed him.

' _I've already maxed out Counter and I leveled up Drive and Slam a lot…but what's next?… Maybe I'll learn on the fifth floor or later perhaps?... Or maybe cutlass skills unlock hidden blade ones too if they're leveled enough?'_ thought Kazuto as he tapped his pencil held in his right hand on his cheek, staring at his drawings of his avatar Kirito, the fast slashing assassin.

They included rudimentary sketches of him either using his hidden blades or cutlasses, and arrows describing movements on different kinds of enemies accompanied them. What fascinated Kazuto was that most skills were taken directly from Edward Kenway's actual sword fighting moves in the fourth Assassin's Creed Game, and were both offensive and defensive, running with possible counters, blocks, and strikes in every move set.

Kazuto couldn't stop thinking about the beta. The hyper-realistic, eye-popping, and beautiful graphic design, the fluidity of the sword skills and their direct application to his training, and without a doubt the fun he had sprinting about with his hood on, cutting open NPCs like scissors through paper.

Back in the beta with Yuuki, Kirito began to develop strategies for taking down specific enemies, and he cataloged them in his Beta Tester's Guide to Sword Art Online him, Yuuki, and a handful of other Beta Testers were working on. Monsters fell into a set number of categories, and each of them had their own unique attacks and weapons.

Luckily for Kirito, the Assassin's Gear was so versatile, quick and powerful that paired with his sharp mind attuned to sword fighting and a natural born fighter like Yuuki with him, the various monsters of the game proved little more than nuisances to him. For instance, giant praying mantis monsters that dozens of beta testers had trouble with on the seventh floor, Yuuki and Kirito obliterated.

It slashed with a sharp green claw to Kirito's head, but he rolled forward to dodge it and hacked off one of the mantis' four legs with a specialized [Hack Drop] that Kenway's Cutlasses offered, then stabbing it through its tough green shell. It lost balance from Kirito's stunning strikes and Yuuki used her own strikes after seeing an opportunity, the female beta tester jumped to match the mantis' height like she was going for a basketball dunk shot, then slicing the mantis' head clean off its long lime green neck that matched her own hair.

When she landed back on the ground, her and Kirito high fived loudly from their high [Strength] stats, and the real world athlete celebrated. "Whooo!" cheered Yuuki, sounding like she landed an actual dunk shot if she was in the real world. "That's what I'm talking about!" hooted the lime green haired girl.

She and Kirito laughed seeing the bountiful results screen they received after slaying the mantis efficiently together and continued pushing the front lines as far as they could.

Kirito found the training his grandfather put him through to be most effective, as the swordplay he taught him along with the importance of working in a team allowed for Kirito to breeze through the first nine floors of the floating steel castle of Aincrad with ease. Most importantly, he learned that Yuuki was very gifted with her sword and would make for a valuable team member when the Alpha launched in November, and that the versatility of the Assassin's Gear allowed him to cut down almost any NPC the game spawned to attack him.

The skills he gained using it became ingrained into his memory as he kept a small journal in the real world which had sketches of each of the Hidden Blade Skills he used during the beta, and his prowess using them increased over the month of August he spent practicing with them.

On the last day of August, about a hundred of the thousand beta testers agreed to team up and tackle the boss room together. A young man named Diavel gave a rousing speech before they entered it. "Fellow beta testers! It is the final day of the beta, and we won't get another chance to play this game for another two months!" He held his sword in the air. "So give it your best shot!"

"Yeah!" Yuuki made the loudest war cry along with the rest of the boss room squad. She looked to Kirito. "Are you going to use Hidden Blades or Cutlasses on this one?"

"It's the last one so…yeah cutlasses." Kirito stopped extending his wrists forward so his Hidden Blades retreated back into their sheaths, and instead drew Kenway's pirate cutlasses from the holsters he had at his hips. He stretched his neck. "Party time…" he murmured.

Diavel pushed the doors to the boss room open and a whirring sound alerted the game's system that it had been activated. The boss room that linked the ninth and tenth floors was somewhat tropical themed, with sand and small rivers creating small islands, the largest of which had a giant slumbering crab covered in metal spikes on it, which awoke as players charged into the room, its spiky orange legs leaving its shell and standing up onto its various claws as the boss room lit up.

It gave a shrill roar and smashed the ground with its titanic pincers, causing the ground to shake and making smaller versions of itself rise up from the sand. The boss' name and multiple health bars appeared. **Ovol-The Crab Lord** was read clearly above the enormous crustacean waving its pincers around waiting to defeat players.

Yuuki and Kirito led the attack, swords raised high, war cries echoing, they jumped into battle against the giant crab. Diavel and another group of beta testers fended off the main group dealing with Ovol. Archers from the rear complained loudly as they fired shots. "That thing's armor is too strong!" One said.

Kirito and Yuuki had trouble dealing with Ovol's pincers, finding the boss' strength to be too much to block directly, all players were obligated to avoiding them completely. A few unlucky players were defeated easily, bursting into light particles with smashing sound effects as they were pinched together between by the boss' pincers or smashed by them. Kirito's timing had been sharply attuned to avoiding attacks after so much practice over the previous weeks, and he rolled forward when the boss swung his pincer at him and went for rapid [Vertical Slashes] with both of his two cutlasses.

His dual-wielding skill and strength had been seriously buffed, however, Ovol's thick metal armor proved invulnerable. Had it not been for Kenway's Swords having extreme durability, they'd have broken against the boss' armored shell.

Yuuki had no better luck, having the agility to jump on a pincer and try to stab what appeared to be a break in the boss' armor, just for her sword to bounce right off it. Many other players struck the boss to find their efforts rebuffed, not lowering Ovol's health in the slightest.

"We can't even make a dent in this thing!" complained a warhammer-wielding beta tester, smashing his two-handed weapon into one of the claws serving as the boss' legs before it crushed him when Ovol moved.

If Kirito hadn't done a parkour ability [Kenway's Mobility] enabled him to activate, he'd have been crushed by the boss' weight as it skittered around defeating players. He did a [Jump Flip] he'd practiced dutifully, onto the crab boss' back. Unfortunately, he impaled his own foot on the metal spikes that were there and was stuck to it, losing a bit of health in the process.

"Kirito!" shouted a worried Yuuki, seeing a pincer rise and prepare to smash onto the boss' back.

He removed his foot from the spike quickly and jumped off, Ovol's strike against itself resulting in no damage caused by the absurd amount of damage absorbing metal that coated its whole body. Kirito took the opportunity to take a step back from fighting the monster and observe, panting from moving about so much, he recovered movement points and formulated a plan as quickly as he could _. 'That thing's armor is far too tough. For blades or arrows…But there's got to be a chink in its armor…an Achilles heel of some kind…maybe…it's got a soft underbelly…wait…that's just it!'_

Kirito squatted from a distance as players engaged the crab boss and its tinier duplicates, focusing directly on the crab's underbelly, where a small break in its metal shell was observed. _'There it is!... I have to use my Hidden blades on this one because I'll be so close! I've only got one shot…so I better make it count!...'_

Sheathing his two cutlasses, Kirito built up speed with his boosted [Agility] stat and drew a Hidden Blade from his right wrist loudly as the system registered audibly a sharp metallic hissing sound. Using the speed he built up, he tumbled forward under the crab's belly by using a somersault, landing in the sand right beneath the chink in Ovol's armor.

The crab boss rose up and was about to smash Kirito under its weight.

Yuuki gasped. "Kirito!" she screamed.

When Ovol came back down, the chink in its armor landed directly on Kirito's [Hidden Blade]. It drove right off in an instant while shrieking, losing an entire bar of health out of the five it had.

Yuuki ran to her hooded partner who sprinted back up to her side from the sand. "What were you thinking?"

"I'll explain later," muttered Kirito. "Right now we got to get that thing on its back!"

"How? It's heavier than a tank!" An axe-wielding player rolled under a pincer swipe.

Kirito grunted. "Damn! If this ground weren't sand I could slide right under its pincers and kill it."

Ovol smashed a slow reacting beta tester under its pincer in a downwards strike, leaving his comrades scrambling away from the ground quaking attack. Yuuki gripped her sword. "I have an idea, keep it distracted while I attack it from the rear."

"Gross!" shouted Kirito with a grin.

"Shut up!" His lime green haired partner shouted back as she went around the crab boss, avoiding tinier versions of it along the way that appeared from the sand.

Kirito drew his cutlasses again and charged straight into the Ovol's view, sand flying and swords raised, he rolled aside to avoid smashing pincer strikes and forward to avoid swipes. Kirito banged on the crab's giant metal covered eyelids with his cutlasses to try to do damage but all this earned was a counter-attack from it. Yuuki managed to sneak under the crab's underbelly like Kirito did as it was distracted by him, and drove her sword right into the chink in its armor.

Ovol shrieked and skittered around again just how Kirito attacked successfully before, and the two repeated the process until it had been defeated. When Yuuki stabbed the crab in its chink for the fourth time, it exploded into dust and a banner proclaiming the beta testers' victory appeared.

Yuuki equipped the item she just received for the final attacking bonus and murmured its name. "The Sword of Midnight…" The blade looked like it was made out of a shiny blackish-purple crystal, and it reflected her pretty features perfectly. Considering its purple shade, Yuuki took a liking to it within seconds of viewing it.

Not long after celebrating their victory, the beta testers were teleported to a large plaza where then a female voice announced something in an airport like fashion. "And that concludes our Beta testing service. Please feel free to leave feedback on our website and we'll see you all in a couple months! Thank you for playing and goodbye!"

Players checked their menus and a loading screen on them showed that the plaza served as a waiting room to await being logged out of the game. Yuuki and Kirito spoke before as they waited along with other beta testers.

"Did you enjoy it?" asked Yuuki.

"Oh hell yeah!" Kirito smiled. "I can't wait for the finished version to come out in November."

Yuuki breathed outwardly. "I couldn't stop thinking about coming here every day and playing this game."

"Me too." agreed Kirito. "I'd be doing school work or something and I could only think about this place."

"Hey so how'd you come up with that idea to defeat that crab boss?" Yuuki shifted her weight from her right to her left foot.

Kirito fixed his hood he was wearing. "I remember reading a book called the Dragon Boy for a summer assignment. There's a scene where…basically, that idea came from there."

"Oh…hey Kirito. I had a lot of fun this month beta testing with you."

"Me too…want to give me a username you use?" Kirito said.

"Sure, on the SAO forum site it's Basketballgirl497."

Kirito yawned. "Mine's just…Kirito. Maybe I'll message you."

"Or maybe I will." chirped Yuuki smarmily, the entire game turning white after the mass logout command was executed.

Kazuto opened his eyes after being logged out from the Beta and stood up off his bed after taking his Nerve Gear helmet off. He walked right over to a calendar by his desk and checked off the current date with a red pen: August 31st. Sighing, Kazuto leaned back and looked at it. "November cannot get here any sooner."

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **And that wraps up the beta. So I guess you could consider this a sort of prologue, I mean all I did was set up the prelude to the launch of the actual game which will be next chapter. It would make a lot more sense for Kirito to be accustomed to the functions of the game and his gear so he'd know how everything works when the game actually launches.**

 **Now to answer a couple of questions and such.**

 **SaintInfernalNeos made a very valid point, so I might have to change the adjective in the story summary describing Kazuto's grandfather from 'abusive' to 'stern'? Will Sinon and Silica be added to the harem? Yes.** **But if the harem were any larger it would simply be too large and the focus could be too all over the place for my taste.**

 **Why isn't this a Crossover with Assassin's Creed? Well, that's simple, I'm only borrowing Edward Kenway's skills and gear from AC IV Black Flag, instead of any plot threads or characters.**

 **So until then, thank you all and goodbye! Also, I already have a writing schedule on my profile if anyone's wondering if I had one...**


	3. A Less than Warm Welcome

**~000~**

 _Chapter Three: A Less than Warm Welcome_

 **~000~**

Suguha watched as her older brother ate breakfast, patiently waiting as she looked at him across the dining room table.

Kazuto looked up from his cereal bowl at her and made eye contact. "What?"

"What?" asked Suguha.

"What is it? Why're you looking at me?" Kazuto drank more cereal.

"No reason." Suguha shrugged and smirked.

Kazuto sighed and returned to his breakfast meanwhile Suguha kept staring at him. Silence befell them as Suguha kept staring at Kazuto again. Kazuto gave in. "Sugu...SAO's alpha launch won't come any earlier if you bug me."

She smiled with her head on her hands. "I know."

"But you're still staring at me."

"I know."

Kazuto groaned. "Guess I'll watch TV." He put his bowl in the kitchen sink and laid on his couch, not really caring what he was watching. Suguha took the opportunity to lay on her beloved older brother as he dozed off slightly. They both patiently waited for the hour to come to finally play the long-awaited launch of SAO. Kazuto noticed that Suguha was napping atop him and chose to caress her dark locks.

Suguha eventually woke up and groaned. "Mmf...Onii-chan...what time is it? I don't wanna miss the launch."

He looked up at her as she pushed off his chest, "About a quarter to one. Launch starts in fifteen minutes. What should we do to pass the time?"

"Maybe snuggle some more?" suggested Suguha.

"Yeah, but if we nap we might miss the launch..."

"I'd prefer that then stare at my NerveGear's clock for fifteen minutes."

Kazuto agreed but left the couch anyway. "Yuupp..." He stretched and yawned. "It's pretty important I get straight to that cave, can't let anyone else pick up the Gear."

"What gear?"

"Sugu we've been over this. The coolest item in SAO ever made!"

"Oh right the Assassin's gear!" said Suguha. She looked at him and saw him smiling quietly. "Wait...Onii-chan...you didn't happen to meet any girls in the beta didn't you?"

Kazuto wondered why Suguha might've been jealous over his answer. "Just Argo and Yuuki. Why?"

"No reason." Suguha walked upstairs and into her room to hide her smile.

Her older brother wondered why she was being cryptic. Her feelings toward him always confused Kazuto, being direct was not one of his strong suits and it wasn't for Suguha either. He checked the kitchen clock.

 _'12:49...gonna miss it if I'm not careful.'_

With that in mind, he scanned a gaming catalog to wait for the SAO server to launch. The reporter on his central computer screen was rabbling on about how hardcore gamers would wait in line for hours to get copies, but Kazuto mentally noted that her news teams probably knew zip about gaming. Kazuto absentmindedly cut his thumb on a page and saw a bit of blood appear.

His black eyes stuck to the clock on his computer monitor.

 _'Crap it's 12:58, I'm gonna miss it!'_

Rather hurriedly, Kazuto connected his NerveGear to his computer. Suguha called from across the hall, setting up her own connection to the server too, "Onii-chan, you're gonna miss it!"

"I know!" Kazuto said back as he threw himself on his bed. "Just go for it you can get to the Gear before anyone else. You got this." Kazuto eyed his NerveGear clock.

12:59...13:00

The Kirigaya siblings spoke in unison. "Link start!"

 **~000~**

Leafa might have well have been run over by a train of pixels when she saw her own fingers. "What in the..." She looked about the starting plaza and saw dozens of other players appear in blue flashes of light.

"Hey!" chortled Leafa as she waved over to some other new players. "Isn't this awesome!?"

"Sure thing random person!" A male player responded.

"Right on!" chuckled Leafa as she ran through the Town of Beginnings. She laughed in amazement when she saw the busy marketplace in the very center of it, enjoying the hyper-realistic design of the entire game. Everything...felt and looked real to her.

Leafa looked over a shield and gasped. Its metallic shine was mirror-like and she could see her own pretty face and yellow hair in its reflection.

"Amazing-" She reached out to touch it.

"Hey!" A female NPC swatted her hand away from the hanging shield with a soup ladle. "Don't touch something unless you've bought it!"

Leafa rubbed her hand with a pout, mumbling beneath her breath. "I just wanted to touch it..." She turned to a male player bargaining with another one over a trade deal. "Excuse me, how do I open my menu?"

"Oh you just swipe down." responded the man.

"Thanks." Leafa swiped down and the menu option opened in front of her.

 _'Hmm...weapons, that seems important.'_

Leafa assumed correctly that the menu could read her finger and showed her the list of weapons she owned, which there were a whopping one of. She touched the [Starter's Sword] and hit [Equip], and it glowed in a small flash of light when attached to her hip.

She unsheathed it and measured how it felt in her palm. There was no other way of putting it, it felt right to her. Leafa placed it back into her sheath at her side and walked off towards the edge of the Town. There, she marveled at the gently swaying grass.

A few paces off from where she was on a nearby hill, a magenta-haired player was being pummeled by a [Frenzy Boar]. She did what her instincts told her to do, and cut it apart with one well placed [Slash Hack]. She pivoted slightly into a small crouch and swung downwards with a glowing blue sword.

The young man stood up and smiled at her, brushing himself off he spoke. "Thanks, you really saved me there." He offered his hand. "Name's Klein."

"Leafa." She shook it. "You ever heard of the [Assassin's Gear]?"

"Of course I have, but no one ever found it. I heard someone saw a person flipping around the night wearing it though during the beta, must be some sort of agility thing." assumed Klein.

"Yeah...my brother actually found it."

Klein was jaw dropped. "What!?"

"Yeah, here he comes now." Leafa pointed as she saw Kirito approach.

"Wow, Leafa? That's your username?" Kirito raised a brow. "You named yourself after a leaf?"

"Much better than just combining my name. I mean what would I be, Kiriha?"

Klein gasped at what Kirito was wearing. "That's the [Assassin's Gear]...I don't know how else to say this but...nice threads bro."

Kirito pointed to Klein and Leafa rolled her eyes. "He gets it. He thinks I'm cool, not lucky. Just picked it up from the mini-boss too."

"Yeah but you're not!" claimed Leafa.

Klein turned to Leafa and turned a hand towards Kirito. "Come on. Dark hood, unique weapons, and skills. And he looks cool as hell!"

"By the way I'm Kirito." He shook hands with Klein.

"Klein." The new player spoke to Leafa, "So do you guys know a friend of mine named...Leafa?"

She was staring off into an orchard down the path from the Town of Beginnings. Leafa walked towards it slowly before becoming astounded by the beauty of the game once more. The sun was hitting the tree in the center of it at just the right angle, and all the wind was making it sway just ever so perfectly.

"Yeah, I had the same reaction, couldn't stop staring at it. Anyway, I-"

"Sh!" Kirito nudged Klein as Leafa laughed in disbelief.

She shook her head, "It looks just like a real tree. Exactly like one." She reached out and touched its oak. "Feels just like one too. Can it..." She heaved herself onto the tree and started climbing it.

Kirito watched as Leafa climbed, placing her hands on branches and feeling the exact sensation a real tree would give. She became flirty on her way up, smirking down at Kirito. "Enjoying the view Onii-chan?"

"Uh...just keep climbing Sugu, no one's checking you out."

"You were man." whispered Klein to Kirito.

"Shut up." He whispered back as his sibling kept climbing the tree.

She reached the part of the tree she wanted to get to and plucked an apple off a branch. She felt the feeling of the apple, like everything else in the game, it was exact to how it looked and felt in real life. Leafa dug her teeth into it and laughed. "Just as I thought, it's exact."

"Great can you get down now?!" called Kirito from below in his [Assassin's Gear].

Leafa jumped off the tree branch and right into her older brother's arms. She brushed her hands off when he set her down. "Ah...thanks for catching me Onii-chan. Now where to next?"

Kirito closed his menu. "Yuuki just messaged me. She wants to meet at the [Crossroad Ruins]."

"How far is it?" asked Klein.

"Not too far," assured Kirito. "Plus you'll want to meet her, she's the best swordswoman I know."

Leafa cleared her throat.

"Oh, aside from my sister of course." Kirito smiled at her before whispering to Klein. "I really have no idea which one of them is better."

"Your sister does Kendo?" asked Klein.

Kirito muttered a 'Yes' and the trio set off to where Kirito lead them to.

 **~000~**

"All right. This is the [Crossroad]...now, where is Yuuki?" Kirito looked around the pillars searching for his partner during the beta.

A lime green-haired blur tackled Kirito to the ground. "Right here!" The energetic girl said on Kirito's chest as she gazed into his black eyes. "You really should be more alert than that if you're an Assassin Kirito."

Leafa gasped at the sudden 'attack' on her brother and Klein just stood silently with an open mouth, amazed at how quickly Yuuki tackled Kirito.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Kirito cleared his throat as he brushed dust off his [Assassin's Gear]. "May I present to you the best player I met during the beta, Yuuki."

"Heyo!" Yuuki raised a hand. "How is everyone doing today?"

"Why'd she tackle him?..." said Leafa in jealousy under her breath. "Only I can snuggle with Onii-chan like that..."

Klein bit his lip. "How'd she tackle him so fast?"

"Check it ooouut Kirito! Got some pretty rare items!" Yuuki showed Kirito her sword and pointed to her undershirt. "Only one in two thousand players get a randomized purple undershirt...and! I got the [Gold Broadsword]!"

"You do know it has a durability of 45 right? That's like four hits," noted Leafa.

"Yeah, I just have it to sell for a high price." murmured Yuuki.

Kirito commented on this. "Most gold items are garbage in this game but they sell very high to NPCs so that's what they're used for."

Klein looked around the floating masses of grass fields that were the first floor. "So...what can we do now?"

Leafa laughed quietly. "After seeing you get thrashed by the weakest mob in the game, we gotta get you brushed up on your sword skills."

Yuuki snorted. "You got beaten by a [Dull Pig]?"

"A [Frenzy Boar]." Leafa snickered.

"Hey those things are fast! All right!?" exclaimed Klein.

"About as fast as my grandma..." muttered Yuuki under her breath.

"Enough chit chat, let's get you training." Kirito led the way towards a small grassy area where a few [Frenzy Boars] were munching on grass. "Since you don't know how to use a sword very well, at least, from what I've heard, [Sword Skills] are your best friend."

"S-Sword Skills?" pondered Klein.

Yuuki looked at him strangely. "You don't know what [Sword Skills] are? I mean, it's one of the reasons why this game is so huge."

"Well [Sword Skills] are quite simple really," explained Kirito. "You just hold your sword in any position necessary to trigger an attack animation and then strike."

"Right!" Klein turned to a pig with valiant intent before turning back to Kirito. "How do I do that?"

"Well just place your sword above your shoulder and attack," said Yuuki.

Klein ran towards a [Frenzy Boar] while yelling and holding his sword over his shoulder. "Yah!" His [Activated] starter sword swung into the mob and ended it quickly with a loud war cry. Before he could check the results, another boar came charging towards him.

"Why can't I use that thing again?" asked Klein, randomly swiping about to activate [Reaver] again.

"[Sword Skills] have a limited cooldown. You have to use your sword regularly now!" answered Kirito.

Klein was given no time but to kick the hog with a flashing pink boot and the [Boar] went flying into pixels when it landed. "Yes!" Klein shouted as he ignored the results page momentarily. "I am the greatest player of Sword Art Online ever!" He started running around pounding his chest chanting 'I'm awesome' as Leafa turned to Yuuki.

"He does know that's the weakest monster in the entire game right?"

Yuuki rubbed her cheekbone with the back of her fingers. "Meh, let him have this. Also, how do you know this, and that thing about the gold sword?"

"He told me a ton about the game the whole time he tested the beta." Leafa tilted her head towards Kirito. "That was all he talked about really..."

 **~000~**

Leafa and Kirito cuddled together on the grass silently while Yuuki and Klein laid on their backs next to them. "Hey Klein?" Yuuki murmured with a long piece of grass in her mouth.

"Mhm?"

"Did you test the beta?"

"No. You?"

Yuuki stood up on her elbows. "I did. Best time of my life that was. Kirito and I..." She threw her thumb towards the boy relaxing with his sibling. "Made it all the way to the tenth floor. Couldn't go any farther, unfortunately."

"Why not?" wondered Klein.

"We'll see when we get there," Yuuki smirked and laid back on the grass knowing Klein wanted to know what lay ahead in the later floors. "Stick with us and we'll be there in no time."

"Actually I've got a few friends of mine who I should party with. We bought the game so we could play together."

"So what're you doing here buddy? Go find them then!" Yuuki said brightly.

Klein stood up and stretched. "Guess I'll log out real quick before I find them. Well, thanks for teaching me about [Sword Skills] Kirito."

He responded sleepily from atop Leafa who had her fingers entangled in his black hair. "No problem..."

"I don't know about you but I have some bagel bite pizzas waiting to be devoured at home. M-m!" Klein grunted and pushed upwards off his head as if he was wearing a helmet.

"Um...Klein...the NerveGear doesn't work like that," said Yuuki. "You gotta log out through your menu."

"Oh. Thanks." Klein swept downwards and hit the bottom-most button. "Uh...guys...you're not gonna like this."

Kirito rubbed his eye and yawned as he helped Leafa stand up from the ground by pulling her hand. "What?"

"The log out button...is gone."

The teens had mixed reactions.

"No way!"

"What?"

"Very funny Klein..."

He shook his bandanna-clad head. "No guys I'm serious, there's no logout button check for yourselves."

Yuuki, Kirito and Leafa all swept downwards and were confused. They had no time to voice their concern as they were teleported to a giant plaza.

 **~000~**

Kayaba chuckled quietly from beneath his massive cloak much to the increasing horror of the players below. **"Greetings players, I am Kayaba Akihiko, head programmer of this game. This is not a bug in the game's system, you are here at my heed. Look now, the masks of your avatars shall now be destroyed to reveal your true forms. Check your inventories to see the entrapped rats you are stare back at you."**

As players were shocked further upon learning that many people were not at all who they said they were, Kirito and Yuuki looked at each other, seeing their true faces for the first time.

"You're so much younger than I thought!" they said together.

Yuuki's hair was much darker than her beta avatar's lime green hair was and Kirito was vastly younger than his avatar made him out to be. Klein and Leafa also had assumed their real-life bodies and faces, and just like everyone around them, they had no clue how. It was also quite noticeable that not a single player had been playing the game long enough to acquire any sort of headwear, so the only person among the thousands of players in the plaza wearing something on their head was Kirito who had the [Assassin's Hood] on.

 **"Needless to say you will all be denizens of my creation. Make no mistake, any who fail shall die."** Kayaba said to the thousands of people listening. **"You shall all be at the whim of the system, crushed instantly by the tiniest of mistakes. For you see, Sword Art Online has disconnected you from the real world. The game's logout function has been removed until the highest floor is completed. At level one hundred. Any players who die before then will be killed forever."**

"B-But...how?" stuttered Klein as his eyes danced between the mirror in his hand showing his true face and the floating creator of the game he was in.

"The NerveGear can electrocute your brain if it has enough activity in its main circuits." coldly muttered Kirito in solemn acceptance. "It can also do a full body scan, that's how it got our real features...and every single thing he just said...is completely true. The game can kill us if we fail."

Players shouted up insults and disgust at the floating Kayaba who laughed again. **"As you all see, you have no humility to admit that there is a new adversity you must all overcome instead of becoming distressed. I wish you all the best of luck in navigating my maze of death..."**

Some players stood shocked in chilling silence. Others fell to the ground in despair and sobbed. And many devolved into hysterical screams. But those with the instinctive drive to fight instantly shot out of the arena as fast as they could to go survive, taking the life-threatening challenge head-on.

Among the first were Kirito, Leafa, Yuuki, and Klein. In a small alleyway in the Town of Beginnings, Klein spoke out after his friends. "Guys, wait!"

Kirito reacted first, stopping his sprinting, followed by Yuuki and Leafa. They turned to him. "Yeah?" asked Leafa.

Klein sighed. "My friends...they're still back there in the plaza. They..." He balled his fists. "They need me guys."

"All right then." Yuuki understood.

Kirito looked at him. "You sure?"

"Yeah, they're pretty green at RPGs so they need all the help they can get. You three seem to know everything about the game, so try to help us little guys whenever you get the chance okay?" requested Klein.

"Sure," said Yuuki as Kirito nodded.

Klein turned and ran after his friends waving goodbye.

"Think we'll see him again?" muttered Leafa.

"Hard as it is, we've got to prioritize our own lives for now." Kirito started running as the girls followed him. "We don't have time for that."

Yuuki caught up with the Assassin's incredible running speed easily. "Why not?"

"The next town has a box of free health potions hidden in a chapel every beta tester knows about. We've got to get them as quickly as we can." Kirito said.

The group of teens ran as fast as they could down the dirt path, destroying any [Field Wolves] they found in their way with ease. It didn't need to be said why Kirito desperately wanted those potions. Because it wasn't a game anymore, it was their lives.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Sorry for not updating for months, got pretty busy with a ton of stuff. Hope you all enjoyed reading, see you all when I upload next. (By the way I'm trying to adhere to my writing schedule but I'm really not succeeding.)**


	4. The Next Step

**~000~**

 _Chapter Four: The Next Step_

 **~000~**

"Each time you attack you must be deliberate and precise. Each time you defend you must be agile and strong. My grandfather once told me that my house was traditionally the best group of swordsmen of their time." Kirito paused, raising his cutlass outward. "You must treat your sword as if it is a part of yourself, can you all drop your arms? No. You must consider your weapon as such too."

He paced to the front of the raised platform, lines of other players watching intently from the grass.

"Most enemies in this game have predictable attack patterns that become consistently more random as we progress. However, using information provided to me by my friend Argo, I believe that this raid shall be an easy one...If we are prepared. So! Get into lines."

Kirito watched as the men slowly and awkwardly made rows and Kirito approached his sparring partner. "Okay, so these guys are called [Sentinels]. Now some of them are really strong, but not boss room ones. They have limited damage range and their blocks are only timed to really bad strikes. Yuuki here is carrying their standard weapon, the [Sponge Club], which is...utter trash. Watch."

Yuuki swung her metal pole randomly after jumping at Kirito, and he simply moved aside and gripped Yuuki's arm, preventing any further attacks. "They always jump at you or swing violently, once you trap them, they're done for. Your objective is simple, don't get hit, and then rush in and-" Kirito raised his cutlass and pointed it to Yuuki's forehead, inches from striking. "Kill. Any questions?"

"That doesn't sound too bad." said one player.

"Yeah." Kirito snickered. "That's the easy part. Tomorrow we'll be formed into groups, two will screen the main group from [Sentinels] which will, in turn, take on Illfang directly. Who...is very tricky. He tends to smash any guard and has pretty unpredictable attack patterns." Kirito raised his arm, dividing his view of his audience. "One half will be trained by my sister, Leafa, in parrying and countering. The other half will be with Yuuki and I, and we'll train you in how to deal with Illfang."

Another male player turned to Agil, a tall man carrying a two-handed battle ax. "Why are we being trained by a buncha kids?"

"Didn't you know?" He uncrossed his arms. "They're the best in the whole game."

Leafa called over one half of the crowd to her, waving her [Katana] in the air. "Okay everyone, over here now!"

Many players were just shocked by Yuuki's prowess at sword fighting. "Eyes on me people!" Men stopped mumbling to each other and watched Yuuki demonstrate her technique on Kirito. "It doesn't matter what the hell you're doing, you gotta do it fast. Watch."

Yuuki closed the distance between her and Kirito so quickly most players watching missed it. She swung her sword twice and Kirito parried both of them away, the system registering two missed strikes with loud pinging sounds within a split second of each other.

"See that?" asked Yuuki as she stood up straight.

Agil chuckled. "See what?"

"Kirito here didn't know I was going to come at him right there and then. But he still made a move and was confident about it. That...is what you're going for. Illfang is about ten times stronger than I am. But not as fast, that's the angle you all have to play off of to beat him."

A spikey orange haired player named Kibaou scoffed. "How the hell do you know all this missy?"

"I'm a beta tester, how else?" the girl answered.

"Right, of course you are." Kibaou laughed quietly.

Yuuki nodded to Kirito. "Switch out with uh...Mr. Cheetoh Einstein."

"Hah. Nice." Kirito moved past Kibaou who readied his sword against Yuuki.

She stood quietly, waiting for the man to move. He let out a loud war cry and swung randomly thrice, prompting Yuuki to move back twice and parry the third attack so strongly that Kibaou overswung and exposed his back to Yuuki.

The dark haired girl smacked him over the head with the flat side of her sword using the tiny window of opportunity she had and pushed him onto the ground. Kibaou rubbed his temple on the ground. "Ow..."

"Mr...Sword Master here thinks that attacking willy nilly equals success. If you attack you better be controlled, or you might find yourself getting your ass beat." Yuuki smirked with her hands on her hips down at her quickly defeated opponent. "Form into pairs, start training yourselves on distance measurement and strike timing. Since your main advantage over Illfang will be speed, that's what we got to improve. Kirito and I will observe and give commentary when needed."

The pair watched as the various players sparred, practicing blocking and improving the precision of their attacks.

Kirito cleared his throat amidst the singing steel. "That was one of the finest counters I've seen, are you sure you haven't practiced any form of swordplay before?"

"Nope. Did nothing but basketball since I was old enough to play." Yuuki smiled.

"Well you're amazing I think."

"Aww...thank you Kirito." the girl smiled and laughed a little, prompting Kirito to chuckle quietly and hold the back of his neck.

His black eyes widened.

 _'Damn, Sugu could've seen that.'_

He turned around and Leafa had one side of her mouth turned inward in a jealous 'Hmm' from the other group as men sparred behind her.

 _'Yup.'_

"Think anyone here can fight at all?" Yuuki watched as Kirito turned back from looking at his younger sibling.

He shrugged. "Him." Kirito pointed to Agil. "Better than all the rest by far. Everyone else is painfully average."

"Well." Yuuki stretched upwards with a small groan. "You do have a very high standard." She saw one player react very slowly and cop a thrust through the arm. "Ugh. So trashy."

Leafa called Kirito over to her when the groups switched and they spoke together.

"So that Yuuki girl...how do you know her so well?"

Kirito looked at her funny. "We beta tested the game together remember?"

"Right but you're forgetting that...I...am your sibling." Leafa pointed to herself.

"It's different though," explained Kirito.

"I've known you longer and practice the traditions of our family with you." Leafa glanced at Yuuki school another player at fighting as if it was a breeze. "She just happens to be good at swords and you think she's cute."

"Sugu are you jealous of her?" Kirito smirked.

"No! I..." she trailed.

Kirito's smiled turned genuine. "Well, no one is as cute as you." He leaned in and pressed his lips to her reddening cheek, causing her to blush further.

 **~000~**

A light blue haired knight who gathered every willing player to an amphitheater to brief them on the raid held his Beta Tester's Guide firmly. "Good evening players! Welcome to the attack, I am your fearless leader, Diavel!"

The young man took a bow and bored applause followed from a small number of players.

"Thank you, thank you! No please that's enough. Anyway, you all know why we're here, thank you to Kirito on that account." He nodded to the Assassin who sat a few rows above with Yuuki and Leafa on either side of him. "Now if he trained you properly, you'll all have no trouble today. The plan of attack is simple, the first and last third of groups will be assigned to defend the middle set of groups so they can focus on the boss. Don't break formation, don't run off, and stick to your group's objective. If there are no questions, form parties of six and then I'll assign you to an objective."

Kirito muttered to Leafa. "We'll join up with the centermost group with Agil and Diavel, they seem like the strongest where we can handle the boss most directly."

"But that's only five people. We need one more," noted Yuuki.

Leafa turned around and looked at the rows above her. "What about her?"

An orange haired girl was sitting quietly by herself with her rapier at her hip and a calm attitude.

"Hey! Wanna join us?" Kirito waved her over and the girl accepted. She walked down from the steps above and Kirito asked her a follow-up question. "What's your name?"

"I'm Asuna." The girl fixed her elegant posture.

"Leafa." Kirito's younger sibling nodded and threw a thumb to her teammate. "She's Yuuki."

"And I'm Kirito. A pleasure to meet you." The Assassin placed his hands on his cutlass' grips. "We're thinking of joining with the centermost group with Diavel. It'll be the toughest by far, but we don't have to join."

Asuna breathed in quickly in a sniff. "I think I can handle it."

"Great. Diavel! Can we join your group!?" called Kirito from afar.

He showed two thumbs up and returned to his conversation with Agil.

"This is going to be easy." surmised Leafa.

 **~000~**

"Ya nervous?" Leafa readied her katana.

Yuuki chuckled with her [Anneal Blade] pulled. "Please. This is just another basketball game for me."

Kirito put his hood on and stretched his neck by moving his head from side to side.

"Do you have to wear that thing?" Leafa complained. "It's dumb."

"It's not dumb. It's awesome!" replied Kirito, drawing his [Hidden Blades].

Diavel got everyone's attention by piercing the ground beneath him with his sword. "All right everyone. Let's win!"

The players cheered and Kirito felt his blood pump faster. A signature phrase of his was muttered calmly. "Party time."

Diavel pushed the doors to the boss room open and the raid rushed through yelling. Kirito was the fastest into the room and him, Asuna, Leafa and Yuuki lead the entire raid vigorously.

"You all know what to do!" shouted Diavel as stared down a roaring Illfang.

Players fought using the skills Kirito trained them in, parrying at the right time, trapping arms and crushing [Sentinels] with various weapons.

Yuuki cut a [Sentinel] out of the air with a strike so precise the entire world seemed paused around her.

"Okay Asuna, you have to-"

"Stay out of my way!" Leafa cut a [Sentinel] down so quickly the mob couldn't react and Asuna then [Flash Thrusted] through another one.

 _'Damn nice technique right there. Guess she has some natural talent like Yuuki.'_ thought Kirito.

Kibaou was knocked down by two [Sentinels] ganging up on him and Yuuki laughed loudly while she disarmed one tenaciously. "Watch your footwork missy!" taunted the beta tester.

A large number of players who weren't engaging Illfang's minions took him head-on. However, the slashes from his [Great Bone Axe] forced most of them to stay back.

"Diavel!" said Kirito. "On me, we'll take him together!"

"Right!"

The black-haired boy did a front flip over Illfang's slash and dashed right up to his knees. He activated [Flurry Stab] and took a chunk out of Illfang's health with multiple glowing attacks from his hidden blades.

Illfang groaned and stumbled, allowing Diavel to cut right across the boss' knee.

"Watch out for those [Sentinels] guys!" warned Kirito to the other groups. "The more health we take out of Illfang the more they spawn!"

The other players were kept on their toes from this and fought harder, slamming them using the basics Kirito trained them in.

Yuuki's [Anneal Blade] bounced right off Illfang's shield, and knowing a counter was coming, Yuuki closed the distance with a [Dash Hack], using the momentum of her sprint to cut Illfang's thigh while his strike missed. He decided to use his massive weight to try and crush the players beneath him and drop down but Leafa clambered onto him with her strength by jumping as high as she could onto him. When Kirito and Yuuki ran away to avoid being killed, Leafa dug her sword as deeply as she could into his shoulder, drawing half of another bar of his health.

Illfang shrieked and before he could smack the girl off his shoulder, she ran across his body and punched him right in the eye with her fist glowing bright pink. Kirito observed this and smiled.

 _'Pure guts. She doesn't care that it'll barely deal any damage, she just wants to taunt him at this point.'_

Illfang stumbled about as Leafa jumped off his nape, dragging her sword down his back the whole way down.

The other players cheered her on as Illfang stood back up and roared, sitting at a bar and a half of HP. The boss was beyond infuriated and tried cutting Leafa in two with his great ax, only for the girl to dash to the side to evade it, the ax buried in the cement of his boss room.

Illfang tried to use his gargantuan strength to pull his weapon out in time, but Leafa had already leaped onto it and cut across his wrist. Illfang howled in pain and Leafa raised her katana in victory, the steel shining brightly in the boss room.

Everyone watched from their own battles as Leafa cut the wooden handle of Illfang's ax off in a single strike.

Agil felt motivated by this to cut into Illfang as if he swung his ax to cut wood open, striking his back as hard as he could.

Other players took the opportunity to drill damage as much as they could into him, Kirito slashing across the Kobold Lords side with red colored [Hack Cuts]. Using Kenway's signature fast hacking style, Kirito and the other players dealt enough damage to put Illfang into the red.

He stood up and roared again, drawing a nōdachi slowly.

Diavel and the other beta testers knew what this meant, keeping their distance. Kayaba had changed the game since the beta.

Illfang started leaping around the boss room's pillars. Players watched as he flew around, not knowing when he'd land. When he did the ground shook, and a large slash came flying toward Diavel and a small collection of other players. The second Illfang hit the ground, Kirito sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him to protect his fellow players.

The Assassin crossed [Kenway's Swords] together and braced himself for the coming attack by mustering all his energy in a fixed defensive stance. The room stood in awe as Kirito absorbed a hack that would've cut through any other blade, Illfang's nōdachi bouncing right off his guard.

When he stumbled back, Kirito knew he'd have to attack or Illfang would cut someone down. He came running as fast as he could towards Illfang and jumped right onto the boss using his large amounts of speed and strength. When he landed he drove the tips of his cutlasses right into Illfang's eyes, defeating him in one perfect strike.

Light glowed from across the Kobold Lord as he screamed. The room burst into cheers when the dust from Illfang's defeated body settled, and Kirito landed in an excellent roll to disperse the impact.

He checked his reward soon after.

 **[You got the last attacking bonus!]**

 **[You have leveled up! Level 11-Level 13]**

 **[Bonus Item: Coat of Midnight]**

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 657|**

 **|Col- 987|**

 **|Items- 1|**

Yuuki and Leafa rushed to him and lifted him into the air in a hug and interrupted the checking of his notifications, laughing very loudly as they did so.

Diavel wiped away sweat. "He almost had me there, thanks for saving me."

"That was some incredible swordsmanship too," admitted Agil with crossed arms.

Kirito smiled as he hugged Leafa and Yuuki back. "It's my job." He stopped embracing his friends and addressed the crowd of players. "Thank you all for this victory, it was a team effort, and I'm grateful for having trained all of you."

The players cheered again in thanks, and Kirito, Leafa, and Yuuki made for the doors out of the boss room.

"Hey," said Asuna on the steps out of Illfang's room. "Kirito was it?"

The hooded boy turned around. "Yeah?"

"I'd really like to join your party. I can't stop hearing how you three are the best players around and...I'd enjoy fighting with you all for the remainder of the game."

Kirito turned to Leafa and Yuuki. "Well, I don't see why not."

"I'm fine with it." concurred Yuuki.

Leafa said nothing and Kirito sent a party request invite. Asuna accepted and walked ahead of the group to speak to Yuuki. Something wasn't sticking right with Kirito, so he hung back and talked to Leafa. "Hey, you didn't seem too keen about her joining us, why not?"

"Don't need any more competition." briskly said Leafa as she rushed forward to gab with her fellow girls.

Kirito stopped walking, dead in his tracks.

 _'Was...was she kidding?... God, I have no idea.'_

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **To clarify after reading the reviews from the last chapter, my writing schedule is simply the order in which I upload, there are no exact deadlines I set for myself. And if you checked it out, you'd see I'm barely following it. I'm still asking people to tell me what TV Tropes is all about and how it's related to fanfiction. Can someone explain it to me? (Sorry, I'm pretty new at all this.)**

 **If any of you like RWBY or Avatar: The Last Airbender I write on those if anyone's interested. And I'll see you all at the next update!**


	5. From Stepping to Running

**~000~**

 _Chapter Five: From Stepping to Running_

 **~000~**

Yuuki ran her whetstone across her [Anneal Blade], watching Leafa trip Asuna into the dirt. Kirito sat next to her on her log, his younger sibling outmatching Asuna in every aspect of their sparring.

Leafa led Asuna into another set of attacks that she just stepped back from. The girl overswung and Kirito's sister bumped Asuna back so strongly she nearly knocked her over. "Loosen up."

Asuna's fist wrapped around her sword's handle tightly, their sparring usually presumed to take up the majority of their morning on the outskirts of the town of Taft. Kirito insisted that basics were the backbone of all techniques, [Swords Skills] and not.

The chestnut haired girl got consistently angrier as Leafa was so attuned to seeing attacks coming her way that she avoided Asuna's [Light Rapier] with simple dodges and the like. Yuuki laughed loudly when she saw Leafa disarm Asuna easily with a grab and a trip into the dirt of the fields around them.

Leafa offered her a hand, giving advice as she helped the girl up. "Don't lunge so rapidly, it telegraphs your swings. If you take your time and make things more deliberate it makes your strikes better."

Yuuki finished sharpening her sword and looked to Kirito. "Think that's enough practicing for today. Should we maybe make our way over to the next town?"

He shrugged. "...Don't see why not." Kirito stood up and pulled back his [Assassin's Hood]. "Okay...maybe we should head over then?"

The girls followed Kirito as he lead them down the path few players returned from. While all four of them were on their toes, they still decided to take their time talking on the dirt road of the eleventh floor.

Asuna cleared her throat, chatting with Kirito as Yuuki conversed with Leafa. "So er...I've really enjoyed clearing with you these past few weeks. Even if it's all a bit..." she looked around the blades of golden grass about her that flowed back and forth. "Bleak."

"That's the genius of Kayaba." Kirito agreed. "I hate his guts but, I have to admit it's very smart the way he placed massive amounts of flat landscape between towns. The difficulty of the [Field Bosses] and the sheer length of the roads kind of attack you psychologically." He turned around the fields that stretched as far as he could see. "I mean, look at it. Doesn't it just scream surrealism?"

"Yeah, it's easy to feel so small when you think about it that way," said Asuna. "But you really helped me out when you convinced me to stop playing the game on my own."

"I think you've got the talent for it."

Asuna shrugged. "Your sister would say otherwise."

"Ah, Sugu just is hard on newcomers. She takes sparring very seriously."

"Is that why you're so good at fighting?"

"Part of it," answered Kirito. "My grandfather was reigning kendo champ for years, taught Sugu and I everything we know about sword fighting. We respected him both very much so we took it on as a family tradition after he died."

"That's very...honorable of you two."

He let an outstretched strand of grass brush his leg absentmindedly. "Least we could do after he trained us for so long."

The four teens kept walking along the dirt road and eventually conversation died down. A lull fell as they walked endlessly toward the next town, the surrounding landscape appearing to consume them. In the process, its design set to work, boring them if they weren't feeling isolated by the massive expanse of nothing around them. Leafa stopped and looked in one direction, failing to see anything but the edge of the road disappear over the horizon. She turned around and looked the other way, finding the same result.

The dark-haired kendoka groaned loudly. "Ugh...we've been walking for hours. Isn't there some other way to the next town?"

"No." Yuuki rubbed her eye.

"How hasn't anyone found the next town yet? You'd think they'd have a [Teleport Crystal] path set up already," noted Asuna.

"Kayaba must've designed monsters to hunt people camping on the road on their way down the path." Kirito murmured.

Leafa looked down the dirt path again. "We have to keep going. If it turns to night, we'll be in big trouble."

They followed the direction they new the town was in as the sun was setting down it, and before it turned to night they heard the cry for help. They all ran to see a large group of players attacked by large statues that simply tried to crush them with their fists.

Leafa saw Kirito draw his [Cutlasses] and put his hood up. A girl from the group was on the verge of being smashed and turned away at the last second. She opened her eyes and the black-haired hero stood above her, crossing his hidden blades and holding up the statue's entire arm on his own.

Kirito pushed the [Field Golem]'s fist off him and jumped right into a [Triple Slash] spinning around as he cut granite off its chest in chunks. The giant mob stumbled back and Kirito looked to Leafa and Asuna who already had their swords drawn. "Only [Flawless Steel] weapons like mine and Yuuki's will have any effect on them, they're constructs! Distract them and let's get out of here!"

Yuuki took on two at the same time, rolling around smashes quickly enough to hack pieces of their arms off. Meanwhile, Asuna and Leafa helped the rest of the attacked group escape as they screened the statues attention. Kirito kept protecting the girl beneath him, blocking another monstrously strong attack head-on with his blades. As he ran away carrying the girl he saved, a notification appeared.

 **[Congratulations! You have unlocked a new boost to your |Dual Blades| skill from practice!]**

Whence Kirito and his friends had moved the group they saved to a safe distance, they thanked them. "Wow!" one of them said. "That was really awesome of you guys thanks!"

"It's our jobs, it's no trouble at all," responded Leafa.

"We're the Moonlit Black Cats, this is Sachi and Ducker. My name's Keita." the young man said.

Kirito introduced his own group. "My sister Leafa and my friends Yuuki and Asuna. Say, you guys meet anyone else on the road down to the next town?"

Keita shook his head. "Not in the slightest no. In fact, we haven't seen any other players besides you all before heading out."

Leafa and Kirito exchanged glances, his hunch was probably right. Leafa spoke up. "We're pretty sure the entire road might be a death trap to lure in people. By nightfall, we'll be facing monsters every few minutes or so. Even then, we don't know how much longer the trail is."

"So what's the alternative? Head back and waste an entire day?" offered Keita rhetorically.

Yuuki crossed her arms. "That's just pointless. Most of the mobs in this area in the game are invulnerable to most weapons that aren't made out of [Flawless Steel] so only Kirito and I will be able to do damage. Walking down the trail at night might seem dangerous but it beats sitting around waiting to get killed."

"But we can't carry torches or any light of some kind." Asuna pointed out. "It'll just make it easier for them to find us."

They looked down the apparently infinite trail and walked down it. After night fell, Kirito introduced himself to Sachi as the large group moved. "Hey there, name's Kirito."

"Sachi," she said. "Thanks for saving us."

"We had to, I don't think we could've just left you guys there."

Sachi looked at Yuuki, Leafa and Asuna. "So you hang out in a group of nothing but girls?"

"They're actually the best players I've met in the game," mumbled Kirito. "And my closest friends, I've been with Leafa and Yuuki since day one, and only joined up with Asuna recently."

"So you really trust them?"

He nodded quietly with as he fixed his hood that was down.

"Hey, that hood looks really nice, it that the easter egg Kayaba put in the game?"

Kirito looked down at his [Assassin's Gear]. "Yeah can't say I don't really like it. It's got some really awesome skills and stuff."

Sachi noticed his swords. "So you're the only dual wielding player in the game?"

"Uh huh."

"Wow, so your gear gave you that skill?"

"It did."

Sachi spoke as crickets chirped loudly around them. "I've spoken to a girl named Argo who says she knows a lot about the game, but even she has no clue how long this road is."

"You've met Argo?" Kirito looked at her.

"We're great friends actually, I was the only person in her party before I joined up with Keita."

"Huh...how's she doing? Haven't seen her in a while."

Sachi shrugged and kept speaking in her small voice. "Fine I guess...she's usually brokering information for people."

"Like what?"

"Boss rooms, how to defeat some bosses, just stuff people need," Sachi answered.

Kirito rubbed his chin. "I'll need to talk to her sometime, want to ask her if she knows anything about my gear."

Asuna raised her voice. "Does anyone else feel like we're being watched?"

The group stopped dead in their tracks. Leafa looked around the grass, but it was almost impossible to make anything out in the moonlight...except for dark shapes moving about.

She equipped a [Throwing Knife] from her menu and hurled it directly at one of them, followed by a low growl. Multiple sets of glowing red eyes lit up in the fields, fangs baring and paws stepping onto the dirt of the road. The Moonlit Black Cats drew their weapons, knowing they'd have little effect.

Kirito drew his [Cutlasses] and handed them out as quietly as he could to Asuna and Leafa. "Here, you're going to need these."

A loud hissing sound erupted from Kirito's wrists when he extended his [Hidden Blades] outwards and the wolves attacked. It wasn't until Leafa saw one up close did she really see how terrifyingly large they all were.

One lunged at Kirito to try and go for a throat bite but he rolled forward in a somersault and passed his wrist knife across the [Terror Wolf]'s stomach as it flew above him in mid-air. It would've landed right into Keita if Kirito's [Hidden Blades] weren't made out of [Flawless Steel] and were able to penetrate the monster's skin.

Sachi tried to poke one in the mouth but it moved forward and caught her spear in its mouth. The wolf then broke her weapon with a bite and tried to kill her. Sachi, defenseless, gasped and tensed up before Asuna [Speed Thrusted] the sword Kirito gave her right into the [Terror Wolf]'s head as it tried to bite Sachi in the shoulder.

Keita and his friend Sasamaru found themselves disarmed and terrified of the death that affronted them, but Kirito appeared suddenly and drove his [Hidden Blades] upwards into the wolves throats and using his extremely high |Strength| stat slammed them into the dirt with force. The wolves realized they had lost half their numbers and bounded away into the night.

"They'll be back before sunrise, we have to keep moving." Leafa panted as she handed her adopted sibling the cutlass he lent her.

Kirito checked the reward he got for killing multiple wolves.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 608|**

 **|Col- 1342|**

 **|Items- 7|**

 **[You have improved your |Hidden Blades| skill with |Level 13 Assassination- Roll Slash|! Hidden Blades: 59/120]**

Kirito had to admit he really liked the perks that the [Assassin's Gear] gave him in sheer amount of stat boosts and power. The raw combination of speed and strength that made for the best items in the game truly made him happy he was able to protect himself and his friends better.

Keita coughed out a thank you. "A-Another close call there Kirito, you're our hero."

"Anytime," he said, leading the group down the trail.

The eerie chill knowing that giant wolves with night vision that had skin that could only be cut by the strongest of weapons were out trying to kill you and could pop out at any moment made for a cold night for the young heroes. All of them walked down the trail with eyes on the grass, ready to spot something they dreaded for every moment of the road.

By the time the sun rose, Kirito lead his group directly into the town. They all laughed and cheered in relief, Kirito giving out a sigh when he opened his menu to message other players that it was possible to teleport to it now.

Keita walked up to Kirito after everyone conversed happily about the success of their most perilous journey. "We really couldn't have done it without you. What do you say we combine parties?"

"Er...nah. I mean, I'm willing to join you on raids but I think we'd be best to go on our own."

"Really? We could really use you. We'd give you a great cut of our earnings."

Kirito shook his head again. "Thank you but no...but your friend Sachi is welcome to visit us at any time."

"Ah, well then." Keita offered his hand which was then shaken by Kirito. "Until next time friend."

As the Moonlit Black Cats walked off together, Kirito felt rather nice about saving their lives. He saw Sachi turn and smile at him for a second, which was weird to him because she didn't come across as the kind of girl to do that.

 **~000~**

When Kirito went to sleep that night, he woke up and it appeared to him that time had flown by. Months had already passed and he was on the 27th floor in a house he shared with Leafa, Asuna, and Yuuki.

Surprisingly, he felt warmth he was somewhat familiar to on his chest. Leafa and Yuuki had snuck into his bed and slept atop him. He understood why Leafa did it, as they were very close and had known each other for years...but it struck him as off as to why Yuuki had done so as she only knew him for a couple months.

There was a light tapping on the door of Kirito's bedroom followed by Asuna's kind voice. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Er..." Kirito looked around his bed to see Yuuki and Leafa still sleeping quietly. "I'm on my way." he answered without raising his voice so as to not wake them up. He got out of bed and stretched before opening the door and walking downstairs to join Asuna for breakfast.

He felt as if he had been in a familiar situation only a short time prior, eating the "cereal" Asuna prepared for him as she looked at him calmly as he ate. Kirito kept chewing the shredded wheat with sugar mixed in it bathed in [Goat Milk] Asuna made for him as she blinked slowly.

Kirito looked up from his bowl still chewing and looking at her. He stopped, staring back at her with a frozen look on his face. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Asuna shrugged innocently with a faint smile.

Kirito went back to his breakfast as slow as he could as Leafa and Yuuki walked down the stairs, yawning and stretching. "Ohayo Leafa-chan." said Asuna.

"Hey." Leafa sat down next to her older brother at their living room table as she saw the food Asuna made for him. "You made him food and not us?"

"I just didn't know when you'd wake up," she said incredulously. "Unless of course, you want me to make you some?"

Leafa looked at Asuna with silent anger. _'Ohohoho...you wanna play like that eh princess? Well, it's on then!'_

She saw the look Leafa gave her and turned to her black-haired party leader. "Kirito-kun. How does my sugared wheat taste?"

He kept chewing it as he looked down at it. "Really good actually. It's almost like the closest thing to cereal in the real world."

Leafa breathed in tightly. "Onii-chan, do you want to go to the Labyrinth with Keita's group today, or go exploring?"

"Uh...I already told them they're not high enough level. But maybe."

Yuuki chimed in. "Yeah Kirito, I think you're right, maybe we should go off exploring on our own."

"H-Hey, I still think it could be good training for them." Leafa looked across Kirito to glance at Yuuki.

Leafa gasped when Yuuki took Kirito's hand and hugged it, making Kirito almost spit out his breakfast. "Well...I think Kirito wants to go with my idea. Right, Kirito?"

"Uh..." was all he could respond with.

Leafa grabbed Kirito's right hand that currently held a spoon in it and grabbed it too. "I think Onii-chan wants to go to that dungeon instead."

As Asuna grew slowly more and more red-faced at the situation as both girls held Kirito's arms tightly, the Assassin looked down at his lap and sighed in thought. _'Can't a man just eat his breakfast in peace?'_

He cleared his throat. "Ladies...can I just please finish eating?"

Leafa was looking at Yuuki with a 'You let go first look', and Yuuki was looking back with a 'No you let go first look', and it wasn't until Yuuki relented that Leafa let go of her beloved sibling's arm with a smirk of pride.

As Kirito finished his breakfast, Asuna, Leafa, and Yuuki all shot each other silent glances back and forth as he chewed. He finished his bowl and stood up. "You two want something to eat?"

Leafa looked quickly at Asuna and Kirito. "You know...I never really liked goat milk anyway."

"Tastes just like regular milk, but hey, it's your taste I guess." Yuuki opinionated. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah Kirito-kun, where to?" Asuna looked at him with crossed arms.

Kirito's black eyes kept dancing between his sibling and his fellow dark-haired sword-fighting prodigy in battle, thinking as he did so. _'Why're they making this decision so much harder than it needs to be? I'm just choosing where we're going for the day.'_

After giving it some thought, Kirito chose. "Yeah, let's go to Labyrinth to help the Moonlit Black Cats. Think Keita's stubborn enough to take them against my advice anyway."

Kirito and Asuna walked to the door and Yuuki attempted to walk the short way to them through where Leafa was sitting, but the girl was in her way with a proud smirk on her lips. Yuuki groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah! You won, bravo, no need to rub it in."

"Thanks, that was all I needed." Leafa turned and allowed Yuuki to walk past her and out of the dining table's row of chairs.

 **~000~**

"I don't wanna sound rude...but these guys aren't exactly...the sharpest tools in the shed if you know what I mean," Yuuki mumbled, being as direct as always. She had noticed this the second they had ignored Kirito's advice during the entire dungeon raid when he knew multiple times over what they knew about the game.

Leafa spoke under her breath to her. "That's why I wanted us to come along, who knows what could've happened if we let them go on their own?"

They walked along the hall of the dungeon slowly, blue lines streaking across the black walls of the Labyrinth. Ducker pushed open the covering to a door and chuckled. "Sweet! Let me just lockpick this and we'll get all that nice loot!"

When he knelt to pick it, Kirito was eyeing the door closely, getting a really bad feeling about it. When Ducker finished, he stood up and Kirito's lightning fast reflexes kicked in, grabbing Ducker shoulder's before he could move. "Yeah, we're not going in there."

Keita looked at him. "Huh?...why not?"

Kirito pointed to the room. "Stop and look at it. It's a treasure chest...in an empty room. I think we should move on to another room, or maybe move on from the dungeon entirely if this is the only way to progress."

Ducker took a second and heeded Kirito's advice as he prevented him from entering the room with his arm and calm words. "Oh...oh all right then."

Kirito smiled at Leafa angrily and had a nonverbal conversation with her using nothing but facial expressions. _'Were they seriously about to go in there?'_

 _'Yeah, I actually think they were.'_ Leafa nodded with the same infuriated smile and a nod.

Keita chuckled as they walked away. "Wow, that's what?...the third time you've saved our lives Kirito?... We really owe you."

"Yeah, it's no trouble...just try to think things through okay? People's lives are on the line here, it's important to always think these kinds of decisions through." Kirito recommended.

Keita nodded and the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats took this into consideration. As they walked through the rest of the dungeon, Kirito and Sachi spoke together. "Hey, you really have a knack for saving our lives. Thanks again."

Kirito whispered to her. "That was way too close, I think it might be best for you to...maybe join my party instead after the raid?"

"Hm..." pondered Sachi. "All right then."

Leafa saw the large doors that lay at the end of a hall in the Labyrinth. "Uh...guys? I think we found the boss?"

"To the next floor?" wondered one of Keita's comrades.

"No, of this dungeon," Kirito answered. "Well, I think we should get ready for this one."

Everyone drew their weapons and Kirito did as well, pulling out his swords and putting up his hood. He groaned quietly as he felt the familiar feeling of his cutlasses in his hands and a fight brewing up. Everyone waited for his call to rush into the boss room before he gave it. "...Party time."

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **So at this point, I'm deviating further and further from canon as each chapter goes along. I also realized that fights or scenes and such that bind together serve as better transitions between chapters and scenes. I just didn't want massive time skips appearing at random moments. Granted, I did have a time skip in this chapter, but it did flow with the scene in question I think, as it described Kirito's perspective a little.**

 **I'm trying to work on blending action and romance scenes together but I will admit it does take practice as I'm fairly green in the matter.**

 **Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who's supporting this story, and everyone who took my recommendations for stories I'm writing. Speaking of which, if you haven't already and if you're interested feel free to check out my stories on RWBY and Avatar: The Last Airbender if you like how I write.**

 **I understand that my stories are rather new (including this one) and that there are only five chapters here, but if someone wants to make a TV Tropes page for this fic, or recommend it on there, I would heavily appreciate it.**

 **I'm trying to work on blending action and romance scenes together but I will admit it does take practice as I'm fairly new at it. Thanks for reading, see you all next time.**


	6. Party Time

**~000~**

 _Chapter Six: Party Time_

 **~000~**

There was something strange about the hallways of the boss room. First, Kirito noticed it was the first ever boss room that didn't automatically include the boss right in front of them. Leafa pushed the doors to the room open and like the other members of the group, she was surprised to see another door right in front of their faces, a hallway leading to both left and right.

"What's this?" asked Asuna.

The door was locked but Leafa laughed. "Hah! Step aside!"

She moved past Keita and the other [Moonlit Black Cats] and drew up her sleeve. She powered up a [Heavy Cross], her fist shimmering with a bright pink glow. When she brought it upon the door she expected it to explode into a million wooden pieces, but instead, wind blew across the room in a loud snap and a purple icon appeared above where Leafa struck.

 **[Immortal Object]**

"Well, that's just great. Let's leave." Keita shrugged.

Kirito shook his head, remembering the fight with [Ovol] the Crab Lord back in the beta. "No, wait a sec." He knelt and ran his hand across the door, eventually finding a small ridge that appeared invisible to how the light was hitting it. "Gotcha. Think I know what this means." his black eyes scanned over the writing beneath the lock.

Everyone watched as he stood up and explained. "Kayaba's quoting something, 'Mary Mary quite contrary.' beneath an almost invisible lock on a door..."

"Psshh!" Keita waved a hand at Kirito. "A riddle? What kind of boss is worth this much effort?"

"This isn't a boss room. This is a puzzle room, I read about them in the patch notes for the beta." Yuuki stepped forward.

Kirito nodded. "She's right. Kayaba's referencing The Secret Garden, the main character of it is named Mary and she found a key to the Garden in some dirt. For some reason, he has a fascination with having certain areas of the game only be passable through knowledge of kid's books."

"So what do we do?" asked Asuna.

"We split up and try to find the key." Kirito looked down the hallway, "There's gotta be something valuable in that room for sure."

Yuuki took Keita and his group down the left side hallway and Kirito took Leafa and Asuna with him down the right. As they walked, Asuna asked Kirito something. "You read a lot?"

"Somewhat. I enjoyed reading before I got into video games and computers. Never would've guessed my life depending on it."

Leafa added on her adopted sibling's statement. "Never would've guessed either that all that training Jii-chan put us through we'd need to survive either."

They reached the end of the hallway and Kirito saw the door was locked, but the lock looked strange to him.

"What kind of key would go through that?" wondered Asuna.

Kirito had an idea and drew a [Hidden Blade], shoving it right into the lock. The door opened and he looked at Leafa, who looked right back in curiosity as to why this lock could only open to his knife. Kirito assumed more locks in the future could perhaps have this unique feature. He guessed that it was a bit early for the correct key to be granted this early so he hesitated on running to the first door and using it.

Kirito walked into the room surprised to see it was a small garden with a few trees and even a pond.

"Is this the garden from the book?"

Kirito shook his head at Asuna's question. "No." he looked around the room further to see the edges of it were blank white walls. Leafa walked up to the fountain in the center of the garden to fish out a key. "Guys? Is this it?"

Kirito walked up to her and took the key into his hand. "Maybe. But it's possible there's a door we're not seeing that has a lock to it."

Leafa understood and they started looking around the garden for it. As Asuna started trying to see if looking through the tree branches would reveal the door, Leafa took the opportunity to talk to her older brother.

"Oi, Onii-chan. Do you think Asuna's pretty?"

Kirito looked at Leafa. "Well, I do have eyes Sugu."

"But do you think she's prettier than me?..."

Kirito paused. He remembered how Leafa had mentioned 'not wanting any more competition' when Asuna joined Kirito's group and how she implied that she had feelings for him. While he initially considered this to be a joke at the time, if he added the fact that Leafa had more than once flirted with Kirito and was jealous of Yuuki's aspirations with him, Kirito surmised that Leafa might be serious about liking him.

"I'd say that's tough to answer."

Leafa smirked. "What's so tough about that?"

"Well, she's, " Kirito looked over to the rapier wielder jumping about the tree branches gracefully. "Pretty awesome and cute. And she's very intelligent too."

"So do you like her?"

Kirito looked up at her crouching to get a better view of the white walls around her, but Asuna looked back and thought he was checking out her more than fine rear so she squinted back at him in a glare.

"Eh, maybe."

Leafa smirked again.

"W-wait that doesn't mean-"

Asuna had stood in the garden's pond and realized the door was visible the whole time through looking at the reflection of the white wall in it. "I found it."

As Kirito unlocked the door, Asuna looked at the Kirigaya siblings. "Were you two talking about me?"

Leafa and Kirito looked at each other. "No!" "We wouldn't-" "Nah!"

Asuna crossed her arms. "So you didn't?"

"No, w-we didn't," said Kirito.

As they progressed deeper into the puzzle room, Asuna said something that made Kirito freeze in shock. "I could hear you two the whole time you know."

Asuna brushed past them and Leafa muttered to Kirito. "She's got some hearing."

Kirito looked at her and walked forward to catch up to Asuna's pace. Leafa raised her hands in shock. "What is with everyone today!?" as she saw Kirito speak to her, Leafa placed her hands over her chest. "I bet he's only into her for her body, guys do seem to like that sort of thing..." she sighed out.

They entered the maze garden where on the other side of it Yuuki and her group were traversing it.

 **~000~**

Yuuki was dragging the Moonlit Black Cats everywhere while feeling slowly more and more annoyed every second.

"How do I activate sword skills again?"

"Ugh! These weapons are soooo heavy!"

"Can we have a break now?"

Yuuki rolled her eyes and wished she was in the real world playing basketball with her friends again. _'These guys are so weak. Half of them can barely fight.'_ Her calm dark eyes started scanning various areas of the maze. She noticed a few stone statues of lizard soldiers and focused on them. After walking with her group for a little, she noticed something. _'Wait. Did that thing just move?'_

One of Keita's party members noticed this too and tried to stab it with his spear as Yuuki yelled. "Wait!"

As the spear set into the stone, the monster was a [Construct] and repelled any weapons not made of [Flawless Steel]. Sasamaru's spear shattered on impact and the [Stone Demon] stood up slowly along with its brethren.

Sasamaru watched helplessly as it drew its halberd and was on the verge of killing him before Yuuki dashed over with her incredible speed and pushed him aside. She narrowly avoided death by catching the weapon on her [Anneal Blade] and having the strength to push it away.

The [Black Cats] kept their distance and Yuuki breathed in deeply, seeing monsters twice her size approach.

She dodged a swipe from an axe and slashed so quickly Keita failed to see her attacks. Yuuki launched off her hands and did a jump kick, her heel sending the statue's chin flying upward. It staggered and its friends descended on Yuuki.

More stone constructs flew out of the hedge of the maze and tried their best to smash Yuuki, the girl proving much too fast to connect a strike to. She used her sword so skillfully that damage streak marks on her enemies were the only visible evidence that she had attacked. She spun about in attacks that were fast enough to not be blockable but not strong enough to tear any of the stone off the constructs.

She panted as she wiped some sweat off her cheek. _'They have too much damn health. I gotta get these idiots out of here before they die.'_

Yuuki dodged another attack from a statue's sword and jumped as high as she could into the air. She landed on one's head and used her sword pierced through it as a lever to fly off it. As she kept soaring through the air, she dragged her sword out of the statue's head on her way out and the tip flew right out.

She parried an attack from one monster away from killing Sachi and yelled. "Follow me!" The stone soldiers ran much slower than them so they were able to get away quickly.

They hurriedly ran away following Yuuki's lead. Kirito, Leafa, and Asuna had heard the commotion and tried to make their way in the direction of Yuuki's fight with the stone lizard soldiers. The two groups ran right into each other and Kirito and Yuuki flew around a corner of the maze and collapsed into each other. Yuuki gasped along with Kirito's grunt of surprise when they bumped into each other and a small dust cloud built from the speed they picked up.

When the dust settled, Kirito realized that he had accidentally planted his hands on Yuuki's chest when they crashed together from running very fast. Yuuki smirked up at Kirito and Leafa's shocked reactions, cooing confidently. "Fufufu." she giggled. "You're so bold Kirito-kun..."

Kirito looked down to see his hands directly on Yuuki's front and stood up as Leafa took on a face of shocked jealousy. Asuna internalized her emotions that Leafa displayed however.

The stone soldiers caught up and Kirito put his hood up automatically after standing up off Yuuki. His weapon sheathes hissed when he drew his [Hidden Blades] and ran with Yuuki into action.

Kirito did a [Quintuple Stab] with his hidden blades glowing lime green, as he drove into a construct with everything he had. It was strong enough to punch through the stone and it stumbled back with multiple holes in its chest. Yuuki saw this as an opening and used Kirito's shoulder as a platform to jump and strike.

A whir was heard in the maze as Yuuki powered up [Drop Slash] and her [Anneal Blade] swung right through the weakened monsters neck, sending its head sailing off. The monster exploded into glass pieces and when Yuuki landed with her strike completed, three other constructs tried to smash her with different weapons.

Yuuki did a backflip as she had the reaction time to fly away before they finished their attacks and slashed away twice as she flew past a [Stone Demon]. Kirito drove upward with his [Cutlasses], using his swords like ice climbing picks to drive right through ones back as he flew up.

When he reached the top of the monsters back he drove the tip of his sword across the back of its stone head and did a backflip off it to land next to Yuuki. When he landed, he fist bumped her as the monster became defeated.

The remaining two monsters swung their massive hammers and struck places where the teens disappeared from. Yuuki and Kirito struck in unison from either side, slashing as they drove through their stomachs.

When they landed on either side, the [Stone Demons] tried again to crush Yuuki and Kirito only to find them attacking much quicker than they were. The monsters yet again took two direct blows to the body.

Kirito watched as Yuuki patiently rolled around more attacks and waited for the cooldown for her sword skills to wear off. When it finally did, Yuuki determined that she would use all of her remaining energy in a [Cyclone Attack], spinning upwards and around the monsters while dragging her sword through them multiple times. After landing with her attacks completed, the constructs froze before being defeated.

Kirito soon realized that his skill was soon rewarded by the system.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 712|**

 **|Col- 1009|**

 **|Items- 1|**

 **[You have improved your |Hidden Blades| skill with |Level 14 Assassination- Quintuple Stab|! Hidden Blades: 81/120]**

 **[You have leveled up! Level 44-45]**

Kirito checked his inventory and checked his new item, labeled: |Puzzle Key|. "Yeah guys, I got it."

When they returned to the first door at the very beginning of the room, Kirito did the honors of opening it after unlocking it. Inside was a simple room that held a note on a pedestal.

Kirito read it aloud to his friends. "Congratulations, you have completed the first of many puzzle rooms to come! At the very end should you find a reward worthy of your effort. The clue for the next puzzle room is: the law of club and fang."

 _'Fuck you Kayaba.'_ muttered Kirito in his head. _'Call of the Wild, really?'_

"That's it!?" Leafa shrieked. "All that nonsense just to get nothing!?"

"This is an RPG Sugu," Kirito explained. "It's very rare for things to be granted instantly. However, if there are multiple rooms to get the reward, I'm guessing it should be really good."

Outside the dungeon, as Sachi explained to Keita that she was leaving his party to join Kirito's, Asuna and Kirito spoke to each other.

"So you really think they can go off on their own?" Asuna asked.

Kirito sighed. "Doubt it. But these are the first set of people we've had to protect." he turned to face her. "And they certainly won't be the last. It's our duty as the best players in the game to protect everyone we can."

"That's really honorable." Asuna smiled.

"It's our jobs," replied Kirito.

Sachi returned and joined Kirito's party, and they all set off to return to the inn to rest before continuing their adventures.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **I know almost everyone in the comments has been asking for me to keep updating and not let this story die but I've been feeling pretty unmotivated for a while for a lot of reasons, mostly because of a lot of trash I've just finished doing and some other bullshit. Plus I've really felt the need to continue my RWBY story.**

 **If you guys are fans of Naruto and the Gamer, check out 'Naruto: The Game of Life' by SeerKing, it's quite honestly one of the best things I've ever read and it's a fun story. The only question I have for you Seer if you're reading this, is I want to know why you extended the prologue so much, seriously it took almost 20 chapters to start the first arc. This is not a criticism at all I'm just wondering why you did that.**

 **I never request reviews and I'm still not requesting them, but the serious lack of them I've been getting hasn't helped my motivation on continuing this story. Mostly I've been at a loss for where the hell to take this story. I've started deviating from canon, and I'm so afraid of writing filler stuff that I realize that anything new I write is basically filler by default.**

 **I have a clearly defined idea of where the story will end, but no idea how to get there? I've also realized that I'll be adding Sinon to the Harem by next chapter and if I add anyone else, Kirito's Harem will get too big and I'll have a hard time focusing on the romance properly. I've said this before and I will again, the larger a harem, the harder it is to write.**

 **The few people I've seen who can manage large harems properly enough would be really skilled writers like SaintInfernalNeos, but I think that I am not nearly good enough at writing romance as he is, so I'll be scaling down the focus of the harem to who I have now and then Sinon.**

 **Silica and Lisbeth will still be in it, but honestly, they won't have the main focus.**

 **Anyone who wants to make a TV Tropes page for this would have my support, I've been waiting a very long time for someone to make one for this fic, but then again it's only 20K words so far so yeah I get why it wouldn't have one. It would also motivate me more to write as writing more stuff would allow for more tropes to be added to the page and for the page to be updated faster.**

 **Sorry for not uploading for a while, I get how frustrating it can be to wait for a fanfic to update, mostly because my favorite one at the moment hasn't been updated in about three months. But again I was busy plus unmotivated for a lot of reasons.**

 **Thank you all for reading. Peace out.**


	7. The Law of Club and Fang

**~000~**

 _Chapter Seven: The Law of Club and Fang_

 **~000~**

"Goddamn [Statue Sentinels]." Yuuki cursed as she observed from the hill with Kirito.

He smirked. "We got this." he nodded to his newly dyed purple-haired friend, the girl completing her new look with a red hairband she found.

"Party time." Yuuki said with a mirroring smirk before Kirito could open his mouth.

Kirito chuckled and walked off after his friend after she stole his line.

A small medieval town completely abandoned was covered with statues of knights and wolves. Kirito had assumed correctly that this was the next |Puzzle Room|, the Assassin ready to learn the true way of club and fang.

Death or victory, that was the way of the wolf, and Kirito and Yuuki were ready to learn.

Yuuki and Kirito started walking into the town slowly, not giving a care in the world about the dozens of statues [activating] around them, their eyes glowing bright red as they jumped from rooftops onto the cobbled streets below.

The wolves snarled, knights preparing their weapons, completely surrounding the two teens.

Kirito raised his hood, drawing his [Hidden Blades] as Yuuki blurred into her attack.

A wolf growled and matched her speed, sprinting towards the blurring girl with its mouth open, fangs bared. Yuuki yelled as she did a front flip over its jaws, cutting downward and landing back on the ground with a completed swing.

The wolf froze before Kirito saw the statue of the wolf lost its head, crumbling into defeated shards of the [system]. Two knights swung their maces and swords at Kirito, but the boy spun in mid-air and both missed, when he landed back on the ground he drew his sword from its sheath and the [Flawless Steel] of his cutlass sliced right through the leg of a knight.

Large pieces of the [Sentinel]'s knee flew everywhere, stone soaring about as it stumbled. Now having his opponent matching his height, Kirito jumped and drove both of his [Hidden Blades] into the skull of the [Sentinel]. As it bursts, Kirito flew into a backflip to avoid the sword of the knight behind him, spinning around in a [Cyclone Attack].

The cutlass he was holding tore piece after piece of cobblestone out of the knight, sending the statue stumbling back. Two other statues would've succeeded in killing Kirito had he not moved from where he was and landing on a knight's helmet from a front flip.

The knight reached for the assassin standing on his head as its friends swung at him. Both weapons missed as he flew down the knights back, dragging his cutlass through the stone on his way down. Kirito cut its heels open in a wide swing, slicing the knight's head off when it fell to its knees.

Weapons missed again as Kirito flipped about sheathing his sword and [Fury Cutting] the knights apart with the tips and sides of his hidden blades, parrying and countering simultaneously.

The remaining [Sentinels] fell with ease to both Kirito and Yuuki.

 **[You got the last attacking bonus!]**

 **[You have leveled up! Level 46-47]**

 **[Bonus Item: |Detachable| Rope Darts]**

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 1109|**

 **|Col- 1207|**

 **|Items- 1|**

Kirito checked his inventory and [Equipped] his new item. The white glow and humming sound effect that accompanied the equipping of items rung as Kirito saw a small upgrade be given to his [Hidden Blades]. A small device that contained the rope dart could be fired from his wrists, and Kirito mentioned this to Yuuki. "Hey I think I just got another [Assassin's Item] for beating this puzzle area."

"Are you sure, if it's only available to you then maybe that's so."

"I think it is only unique to me." concurred Kirito. "But I still have no idea how to use these."

Yuuki turned to spawning [Statue Sentinels] and drew her [Anneal Blade]. "Only one way to find out how."

Kirito ran toward a sprinting wolf, the cobblestone paws of the beast crashing upon the street loudly. Kirito unsheathed a [Hidden Blade] and he kept running as he flung his arm toward the approaching monster and released the [Rope Dart] the only way he knew how, extended his hand back and wrist forward.

The [Rope Dart] registered the movement and flew towards the open mouth of the [Wolf Construct]. When hooked inside the mouth of it, Kirito slid across the ground at full speed dragged into the air by the mechanism of the new upgrade on his hidden blades.

Kirito drove the tip of his [Hidden Blades] into the mouth of the wolf, instantly killing it as it wasn't protected by all of its stone shell. Yuuki distracted two knights from trying to kill Kirito by slashing across their chests in a jump attack, the girl quickly rolling around to avoid maces and swords.

Kirito drew both his [Cutlasses] and launched his [Rope Darts] mid-air as he jumped. They hooked directly into the necks of the [Knight Constructs], shredding off a few chunks of stone in the process. Before they could react, Kirito had already used the pulling mechanism of the dart machine to fly directly past both of his targets, dragging the tips of his swords through their necks when he reached his target.

The rope darts flew off as Kirito had sliced both heads of the knight's clean off their necks, in a brand new [Assassin's Skill]: |Vertical Soar|.

Kirito and Yuuki worked together in tandem like a finely oiled machine of pristine swordsmanship, combining Kirito explosive and lightning fast movements now made sleeker from his rope darts with Yuuki jump attacks.

Yuuki jumped directly onto the shield of a knight, when it drew its mace back to hit her, she already did a backflip off it so strong the shield rebounded into the head of its user. As the [Construct] stumbled, stone flew about in a miniature explosion as Kirito [Hooked] a rope dart into the now exposed throat of the knight, flying into another [Flying Strike] with his hidden blade being shoved right into the knight's gullet.

Being such a powerful [Critical Strike], the knight was defeated as Kirito flew through it, electronic dust exploding as he soared through the newly created cloud of shards. One knight caught Kirito, its mace smashing into him mid air and sending him flying into a house in the village, bricks flying around from his landing.

Three knights began to run toward the house to end Kirito, but Yuuki jumped and struck all three. They all raised their weapons and her sword rebounded off of shields and swords alike but she still stalled them.

"Are you all right?" called Yuuki over her shoulder.

"Ugh…" Kirito looked at his health gauge seeing it sit at [6598/7500]. "I'm fine!"

Kirito heard rubbled move around him as he stood up in the collapsed house he was struck into. Yuuki began dashing back to avoid strikes as she yelled. "That was a bitch of a hit, are you sure you're fine!?"

' _No actually, I'm pissed off.'_ Kirito nodded slowly, before feeling his hand wrap into a fist around the grips of his swords, drawing them outward and connecting himself to the knights after [Hooking] two of them in the chest. The two knights on the central ones flank stumbled back from having the rope dart grip their chest, and soon Kirito flew toward them in multiple [Cyclone Attacks], his swords shining in light blue hues as he flew around them cutting stone pieces.

Kirito landed back on the ground with his swords resheathed and with his back to the defeated knights. Yuuki stood in awe of how quickly he had struck, she could've sworn she blinked and Kirito had already cut all three down.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 907|**

 **|Col- 809|**

 **|Items- 1|**

Kirito offered Yuuki a sword he had just received from defeating multiple knights skillfully and she gasped seeing which one it was. "The [Sword of Midnight]?" She took the purple blade into her hand, seeing her own pretty reflection in its mirror-like sheen. "It's been ages since I've had this!"

"Months." agreed Kirito. "It has been a while." Kirito looked around seeing the large group of wolves and knights they had both cut apart. "Brings back a lot of memories actually. You and me destroying mobs, yeah reminds me of the good old days of testing the beta."

"Yeah, those were some fun days." Yuuki and Kirito smiled. "Say," Yuuki began, "You don't exactly have a girlfriend do you?"

"Not really."

"Well then would you like to hang out sometime? Just you and me like we are now?"

"Sure, why not?" Kirito had to admit, he liked slaying monsters with her.

Yuuki could tell he misunderstood. "No, no. I mean like, like a date maybe?"

Kirito looked at her. "Oh! Oh um, all right then." As they started walking out of the town. "But no monsters then?"

Yuuki laughed. "No, no monsters." she slugged his shoulder lightly, Kirito rubbing it knowing she had the strength to send him flying with one hit.

But perhaps that was what he liked about her.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Sorry about the short chapter and the month without uploads, everything's just been crazy lately. You all are awesome for supporting this story. I kind of am wondering where to take this story, whether to just write fluffy romance with a bunch of action in-between or just go by canon in my own way. Or both.**

 **Either way, I think I'll figure it out eventually. If there could be a TV Tropes page for this it would be heavily appreciated, and even a recommendation would be fine too! For those who read Arc of Legend, which is my RWBY story, I have new information regarding it on my profile including a poll so I would appreciate it too if y'all could check that out as well if needed.**

 **Thanks for reading, see you all at the next chapter.**


	8. Dates and Sparring

**~000~**

 _Chapter Eight: Dates and Sparring_

 **~000~**

Leafa looked around the small training area she had made for herself. It looked all right and was the closest thing she had to her old dojo back in the real world. She sat in the middle of the boxing style ring she had set up and waited calmly for someone to enter, which sure enough eventually paid off.

"Uh, hello?" Asuna entered and saw Leafa rise from where she sat.

"Hey Asuna, can I help you?" offered Leafa.

"Y-Yeah." Asuna swept some of her orange-brown hair behind her ear and held her arm. "If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to learn how to fight like you and Kirito."

"What're you talking about? You're already really good." Leafa pointed out.

Asuna shook her head. "No, I'm talking about with other people not with mobs."

"Hm, well all right then. Step in the ring." Leafa nodded as Asuna accepted. "So you really want to learn how we did?"

"Definitely," Asuna responded confidently.

Leafa laughed. "Well, I don't know, it seems like you might want to train a bit softer. You know, considering." She flicked her head sideways at a slight angle towards Asuna.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asuna asked.

"Nothing. You're gonna learn the old fashioned way. Just like in the rest of Ronbaru, we can't deal lethal damage to each other. You won't suffer any penalty to your [Color Cursor] for fighting as we're in a [Safe Zone]." Leafa looked around her personal dojo.

Asuna placed her hand on the hilt of her rapier. "Shall we get started?"

Leafa shook her head. "We're not using that." Leafa opened her menu and equipped two bamboo [Shinais].

After catching one, Asuna observed it. "How'd you get this?"

"I made it myself. Been working on my [Crafting] skill." Leafa shrugged. "Make the first move."

Asuna [Unequipped] her sword, having it fizzle back into her inventor. When she pulled back her wooden blade to activate a [Sword Skill] nothing happened. "Huh?"

"That won't work here princess." Leafa swept Asuna's leg and slammed her full force into the mat of the ring.

Asuna groaned on the ground as Leafa disarmed Asuna and held two shinais. "H-How?"

"Turns out the game's code only allows skills to work with weapons made of metal. How weird is that?" Leafa chuckled. "Come on, try again."

Asuna took the sword Leafa handed her again and stood up off the ground. She lunged into a thrust and Leafa whacked her over the back of the head with the flat part of her blade. She rubbed it a she turned around to strike, slashing wildly as Leafa easily backstepped and counter thrust into her stomach. Asuna felt the knockback effect fully, flying across the ring from the precision of Leafa's strike.

"You wanted to learn the hard way? You got it." Leafa put her sword on her shoulder.

Asuna rubbed her bottom lip with a small 'kh' as she stood back up. "Ok."

The two girls fought as Asuna kept swiping wildly at her darker-haired opponent. She was very surprised a girl two whole years younger than she was would have twice her skill in sword fighting, knocking her about as her strikes proved wholly ineffective. Asuna took a knee strike to the face and when she nearly dropped to the floor Leafa smacked her to the other side of the ring with her shinai.

Asuna went back into to strike only to get countered again, Leafa trading shots only for hers to land in succession. Asuna felt sweat flick off her head when Leafa knocked her into the ropes of the ring, flying off them into a strike only for Leafa's elbow to strike her back down.

Rubbing her head and getting back onto her feet, Asuna showed slight improvement by using a feint aimed at Leafa's head only for her true slash to land across her shoulder a split second later. Leafa stumbled back and smiled, the hard way was working for the girl.

 **~000~**

Yuuki waved to Kirito as she approached in the town square. "Hey, Ki-kun! Ready for our date?"

"Uh, Y-Yuuki?" Kirito coughed when she walked up to him. "You're wearing something new."

"Yeah, you like it?" Yuuki looked down at it, brushing her purple-colored combat dress that revealed the skin of her thighs and hips. "Thought I should find something special."

"I-It's." He cleared his throat. "It's pretty revealing."

Yuuki smiled. "You don't like it?"

"No no, it's great, it's just I've never seen you wear a skirt before," admitted Kirito.

"Oh well, let's get started shall we?" Yuuki equipped a [Teleport Crystal] and handed Kirito one. "Found this nice spot just outside Giltstein. Ready?" Kirito nodded and gripped it, echoing her words when they spoke at the same time. "Teleport! Giltstein!"

They reappeared a few floors below and in the center of the town of Giltstein.

"Damn, been a while since we were on the 25th floor," said Yuuki.

"Yeah," Kirito scoffed. "Don't remind me. What were you thinking of doing?"

"Just a picknick, and then we could just walk around a bit," Yuuki answered.

It wasn't long before they sat on the lush green hills above a riverbank and Kirito gasped a little. "Dang, this is a nice place. Where'd you find it?"

"Spent some time by myself before we took on the floor boss." Yuuki equipped a [Quilted Blanket] and a [Handbasket] full of food and set it out for the two to sit on. Yuuki opened the handbasket as Kirito sat down and handed him a sandwich.

"Damn," Kirito said after taking a bite. "Really good." He chewed a bit more and swallowed. "Asuna's?"

"Yup." Yuuki bit into hers and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "It show's doesn't it?"

The two ended up finishing everything inside the basket within a few minutes.

"Asuna's a magician or something I swear." Yuuki laughed as she brushed crumbs off her skirt.

Kirito nodded as he leaned his head on his hand. "Hey Yuuki, I wanted to ask you something. Why did you want to ask me on a date?"

"Well, we've known each other for a while, all the way back since the beta. Just wanted to get to know you better that's all."

"I mean, we talked a lot during the beta." Kirito rubbed his chin.

"Yeah but, what were you into in the real world? Besides video games and kendo?"

Kirito answered calmly. "Computers. That's it."

"That's it?"

He nodded. "Between school and practicing every day with Sugu, didn't have time for much else really. Think I wanna take that walk now."

"Nah." Yuuki yawned as she stretched and fell back on the picnic blanket. "I'm good."

Kirito raised an eyebrow. "For someone as high energy as you, I was sure we'd already be walking by now."

"Nope." Yuuki placed her hands behind her head and rested it on them.

"What about you? What were you into?"

"Basketball and horses pretty much. School was boring as hell, and I wasn't into much else."

Kirito watched the water in the river rush by. "You miss it, the real world?"

She snickered. "Besides my family? Not in the slightest."

"Yeah, the only family I have besides Sugu is my aunt back outside. I miss her, but I'm glad Sugu's here with me."

Yuuki smiled. "One day when we get out of here, I'll take you to one of my basketball games. And then we'll go out afterward."

"What if I'm busy?" Kirito smirked.

Yuuki stood up off the blanket and smirked back. "You won't be. Because would you be going out with anyone else?"

"Well." Kirito thought of his adopted sister and Asuna. "I don't know."

"Come on, is there anyone else you're interested in?"

"Yuu, don't take this the wrong way, but the dynamic we have with Asuna and Sugu... we're a team. I don't want to screw that up."

Yuuki looked at him. "So you just want to be friends or something?"

"I mean, we can still go out and stuff, but I don't know how they'd feel if we were together."

"Great way to kick off a first date Ki-kun." Yuuki laughed quietly.

"I don't know!" Kirito held his head. "Maybe we should, or shouldn't. I don't know, I just." Kirito shook his head. "You're awesome. You're the coolest girl I've met. But this is, my first date ever, with anyone."

Yuuki understood. "Mine too."

"And this whole dating thing is, completely new to me. So don't expect me to know how this'll play out with them."

"We're not just a team I'd say. More like a family." agreed Yuuki. "I like you too, and I don't know either about dating. But I guess we can figure it out together right?"

Kirito was nodding and smiling. "Okay. Okay yeah, that's sounds great."

"Awesome." Yuuki smiled back as she stood up and tilted her head to the side. "Come on, I'll race you up this hill."

Kirito panted as he tried to outpace his date, but the tough thing was that she had the same if not higher |Agility| stat he did. When they reached the top of the hill, Yuuki won and cheered by bouncing up and down with her hands in the air.

"Yeaaah!" she laughed as Kirito chuckled a little. "Guess who beat the Ultimate Assassin?"

"That doesn't really work," Kirito said.

"You know what really doesn't work? That ridiculous hood of yours." Yuuki pointed to part of Kirito's [Assassin's Gear.] "Leafa and Asuna are right, it's not that cool."

"It's awesome." Kirito corrected. "And what do you know about fashion?"

"Uh, hello!?" Yuuki looked down at her purple combat dress that matched her hair. "Goes with my sword and everything? Come on."

He snorted. "All right then."

"Hm," Yuuki smiled mischievously. "Don't like that tone of yours Ki."

"Wait what?"

She flung him down the hill and he went rolling down it. Yuuki slid down the smoothness of the grass on her boots and when she reached the bottom she shoulder tackled Kirito away as hard as she could.

"Oh crap!" Yuuki's brown eyes widened seeing him fly off as she overdid it. She ran as fast as she could to the river bank to see Kirito laying back covered head to toe in water laughing as loud as he ever could have. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "That was crazy!"

Yuuki gasped when Kirito ran up the side of the riverbank to the side of the plains where Yuuki was standing and flung her into the river behind him. She gasped when she herself was thrown and laughed too alongside him, hearing his response from the side of the riverbank. "That's what you get for getting all my gear drenched!"

"This dress is new Kirito!" she whined.

She pulled him back into the river and the two splashed each other until they got tired.

They dried off on the side of the river as Kirito sighed and looked down at his clothes. "You know I really liked this stuff, wonder if it'll dry off if I change into some new clothes."

"Think I'm gonna change now that you mention it." She stood up and made for the small forest on the other side of the river. "No peeking perv."

"Why would I? That's rude," stated Kirito.

She pushed him. "Hey, not cool, all guys are into that stuff just admit you want to look."

"I'm a pervert if I want to look but insulting if I don't? What!?" Kirito raised his hand to his temple in confusion.

"Fair point." Yuuki shrugged as she crossed the river and changed into a plain light lavender colored dress as Kirito took the opportunity to do the same on the other side of the riverbank, choosing some simple blue trousers and a red shirt he found on a lower floor.

Kirito called out loudly. "Yuuuuki!?" he walked into the forest. "Are you hiding behind a tree? I swear if you try to scare me."

"You'll what?" her voice echoed.

"I'll...dammit." he sighed. He started walking through the forest calling out Yuuki's name before she burst out from behind a tree and yelled. He jumped with a yelp as she nearly fell over laughing. "Wow, I knew you were gonna do that just not when." he said.

"That's what makes it scary silly."

"I wasn't scared." Kirito lied in the attempt to seem tougher to impress his date.

"Then why did you jump so high?" Yuuki stopped laughing. "For an Assassin, you really should sneak around easier, and be harder to scare."

"You'd be scared too if you were in that situation." pointed out Kirito.

She smirked and leaned back with her arms crossed. "Oh, would I?"

"Let's play a game. You jump higher than me when I scare you or scream louder, I win. You find me before I can scare you, you win."

"Fine. But don't leave the forest, that's not fair." Yuuki accepted.

Kirito rubbed the back of his dark-haired head. "All right, count to twenty and close your eyes."

"Ready?" Yuuki covered her eyes. "One, two, three..."

Kirito simply stood behind her as quietly as he could and Yuuki uncovered her face. "All right I'm going to find you now." She turned around and Kirito lunged forward with a roar, making her shriek.

He snickered as Yuuki shook her head as she knew he'd won. "That's the oldest trick in the book. You think I didn't play this sort of game with Sugu when I was little?"

She sighed. "Let's go again. You know that wasn't fair."

"Sure."

Yuuki counted down again and when she looked up Kirito was of course gone. She started searching for him everywhere throughout the forest, leaves crunching beneath her boots as she walked. Yuuki looked behind every tree and boulder she came across, but it just wasn't enough. The forest was larger than she expected, but still small enough that she finished searching all of it under an hour.

She huffed as she put her hands on her hips. _'Where could he be? Unless he's moving as I'm looking for him, he shouldn't be that hard to find.'_

"Okay this isn't funny anymore!" said Yuuki loudly. "We've gotta go back now, I'm sure Asuna's making a nice dinner!"

Silence.

Yuuki equipped her [Sword of Midnight] as she knew the sun would be going down soon. "Goddamnit."

She whistled quietly as the forest grew darker slowly, whipping her head around at random moments to see where he was. This didn't work as Kirito was still nowhere to be found as Yuuki still searched for him.

"This is taking it way too far, we should head back home!" Yuuki said as night fell.

Silence.

Yuuki equipped a [Torch] and after using some [Flint] she started searching for her.

She was lying if she denied the fact that fear was growing like a balloon within her stomach every minute. Whether it was Kirito or a random monster, either could strike without warning.

"You win! Let's just please go home!" yelled Yuuki.

A [Rope Dart] flew out of the tree branches and wrapped around her wrist, Yuuki shrieking so loudly as she was yanked upwards that the entire forest echoed with her voice. When she reached the treetops where Kirito was perched and laughing his head off, she removed it from her wrist and gripped her purple blade harder when she pushed his shoulder. "That was horrifying!"

"So? You were the one who started this game!" Kirito kept laughing. "Wow, I didn't think that would be how loud it'd be!"

"You took it way too far." she shook her head. "Stupid [Assasin's Gear]."

Kirito wiped away a tear from how hard he was laughing. "Hey, you knew how scary the game could be."

"Ugh." Yuuki rolled her eyes.

"At least you got a great view from up here." Kirito showed a hand to the very high tree branch they were sitting on.

"It's the middle of the night, there is no view." bitterly noted Yuuki.

Kirito looked into the black abyss below at the bottom of which laid Yuuki's torch. "Oh."

He saw a massive [Deer Horror] with claws the size of small cars step into the light offered by the torch Yuuki dropped. It growled and its red eyes glowed brighter when it looked up at the teens above.

"Kirito?..." Yuuki whispered.

"Sh. Maybe it can't see us from up here."

It growled loudly and hacked a sizeable chunk off the tree trunk.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it can." said Yuuki.

The tree began to fall as the [Forest Demon] swung away at the tree and Kirito released another [Rope Dart] into a nearby tree. "Hang on!"

Yuuki clung to her date as the boy swung them to safety when the monster below finished tearing apart the bottom part of the giant tree. Kirito lowered them to the forest floor below using his new upgrade to his [Assassin's Gear] as a sort of winch again and stared off at the gigantic demon bear deer hybrid.

"I thought there wouldn't be any monsters on our date." quipped Kirito.

"Shut up and fight." Yuuki charged as fast as she could against the beast as Kirito smirked.

He pulled his hood over his head and drew his [Hidden Blades].

The beast slashed at Yuuki, and she dodged, sliding across the forest floor on her knees, and coming up by charging up her sword, multiple purple slashes cutting across the beast's chest in a [Quintuple Hacks]. It staggered back from the power of Yuuki's attacks, Kirito latching onto the [Deer Horror]'s neck with a rope dart and flying into its collarbone and driving his blade as deeply as he could into it.

It roared in pain as Kirito took to Yuuki's side as it stepped back. The monster wrapped its claw around an entire tree and flung it at the teens, roots and all. Yuuki sliced it in half with the precision of her strike, Kirito latching both his rope darts into the beast's shoulders. He flew as fast lightning into the deer monster's chest, leaving a clean red cut across its chest and kicking off its head with a snap kick to fly backward.

When it stumbled back and grew angrier, it smacked Yuuki aside with a claw and came sprinting towards Kirito, trees flying away from the power the charge built up.

As Yuuki smashed against a tree, Kirito pulled himself upward with a rope dart and the [Deer Horror] missed completely. He unattached himself from the branch above and latched himself back onto the neck of the beast below, flying downward and spinning he cut a gigantic slash into the mob's nape.

It fell and Kirito ran to Yuuki to help her recover from the attack. When he saw the beast get up and roar again, Kirito engaged the forest monster with rolls around its smashes and claw hacks, leaving small cuts across its hairy and gigantic arms as he cut across them and ran to the beasts chest.

His hidden blades glowed bright blue when he activated [Double Stab], loading up his knives when he drove them as far as he could into the demon's chest. It managed to grab Kirito and hurl him against a tree in anger.

He managed to control himself midair and leap off the tree trunk with his legs toward the beasts face. Instead of opening its jaws and swallowing Kirito whole, it knocked the boy away and attacked again before he could recover from the blow. If Kirito had not rolled away just in time he likely would've died under the [Deer Horror]'s claw when it tried to pancake him under its massive fist.

Before the monster could attack Kirito again, Yuuki cut across its back to get its attention. When it turned around to Yuuki, Kirito's rope dart flew quicker than ever before and right into its eye. Moving so quickly he drove his hidden blade into the monster's neck before it could shriek in pain, Kirito flew off the monsters head by leaping off its head as strongly as he could with a backflip.

The demon lost sight in its left eye as Kirito's rope dart ruined it and it shrieked in pain, roaring even louder in increasing anger at the two beta testers fighting it.

"The fuck!?" Kirito yelled. "How is it not dead!?"

Yuuki twirled her sword around her hand. "We gotta cut off its head." she looked to him and nodded the two jumping back into the fray once more.

Flying around speedy claws together the two struck the beast as hard as they could, dashing up its chest with multiple consecutive cuts. When they reached the [Deer Horror]'s head, they both struck it onto its back with a combined blow.

It fell and Yuuki spun downward, landing and dragging her [Sword of Midnight] cleanly across the beast's neck sending dirt flying about when she removed its head from its body.

Kirito nodded and smiled in approval before receiving a notification.

 **[Result]:**

 **|Exp- 1103|**

 **|Col- 1709|**

 **|Items- 2|**

Kirito checked his inventory and saw that he had gotten a |Demon Heart| as well as a |Deer Horror Eye|. He knew they didn't have much value besides selling them or making potions so he just shrugged when seeing this.

"Well, I guess we just went back to how it was in the beta huh?" Yuuki looked at him.

Kirito nodded. "Yeah I guess so. For being my first date ever, this was a ton of fun."

"Let's go get some dinner." Yuuki tossed a Kirito a [Teleport Crystal].

 **~000~**

Kirito returned home with Yuuki to see the new dojo area Leafa had made in it and Leafa and Asuna spar as hard as they could in the middle of the ring. Asuna's improvement showed, barely holding her own against the experienced kendoka.

Leafa struck twice high and once low, knocking Asuna's legs out from under her.

Being driven back from the speed and ferocity of Asuna's strikes whence she spun back onto her feet, Leafa wiped some sweat off her forehead as Asuna had more than pushed her for the day. Leafa and Asuna circled each other, making intense eye contact as neither made the first move. Striking suddenly, Asuna's leg sweep missed and Leafa jumped over it barely.

When she landed their shinais connected when they smacked them together when Leafa's slash met Asuna's block. Asuna hacking at Leafa's ribs but missing when she stepped back before Leafa dodged a strike to her temple. The two failed to land any attacks on each other as they went back and forth fighting. Like waves crashing against each other, the dojo was filled with the loud cracking of bamboo against bamboo Leafa, one dodging, parrying, or jumping at low and high strikes when the other attacked.

Finishing their movement in sync, Leafa finished the fight by grabbing onto Asuna's arm when she thrusted and tripping her into the mat. She straddled Asuna's torso quickly and laid her shinai against Asuna's throat. The two kept panting as Leafa helped Asuna up off the ground.

"Have you two been practicing all day?" pondered Yuuki.

"Mhm!" Asuna used a towel to dry her face of sweat. "Let's eat shall we?"

Yuuki and Kirito made eye contact after Leafa and Asuna laughed and put their arms around each other's shoulders when they left the ring, complimenting each other on how they performed during an entire day's worth of intense sparring. Kirito muttered in Yuuki's ear. "Should we tell them we're going out?"

"Maybe. But we'll know when the time's right." Yuuki answered.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**


End file.
